Now I Know There's Something More
by MelonRinds
Summary: Just when Dorothy Ann was ready to admit her feelings for Carlos, someone else had to get there first.
1. Chapter 1

**While struggling for an idea for an ending to my other fanfiction, I managed to string more and more ideas together for a fic whom's basis of a plotline I'd had for ages. It takes place probably in the gang's junior year of highschool.**

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It was the third week of the month of October, and it was the week that proved to be most horrible, stress inducing week of Dorothy Ann's school career to date. There had been some pretty bad times before, like when she had been sick for a week at school and found out that she had a large test in physics the day she'd gotten back. There was that brief period of time Janet had been dating Ralphie and she'd taken to thinking she was welcome to sit at their table in the cafeteria and lecture them with how much better she was at packing her lunch than them, or some garbage like that. And who could forget the time everyone in the school had stopped speaking to her when she'd helped Phoebe protest against the school's fatty and greasy meat loaded cafeteria food.

The week had started out well enough, DA had managed to get the highest mark on a recent math test, and she had even been allowed to peer through one of the telescopes at the observatory where she worked to look at Saturn's rings. They were the brightest they had been in years. Though really, it was nothing compared to the real thing. She had also gotten a small opinion article published in Walkerville's main newspaper.

Actually, now that she thought about it, the beginning part of the week had been pretty good to her. The irritation first started in her early morning history class on Thursday.

Dorothy Ann grit her teeth in frustration and scribbled furiously, trying as hard as she could to blot out the inane chatter of the schools most beautiful, popular - and obnoxious - girls in all of Walkerville High. It was hard enough writing a six page essay on human migration in the middle east without having to listen to brunette with too long legs and too short skirt - Jill Green - , blond with stereotypical big boobs and small brain - Sarah Bruce -, and redhead with hair the colour of the most luscious red apples imaginable - Clarissa Noles, talk about who's makeup was the most resistible to water or who was the best looking guy in school.

"Carlos Ramone," said Jill suddenly.

Dorothy Ann's ears unwillingly perked up at the sound of the boys name.

"Carlos," she said again, her barely started essay lying forgotten beneath her elbows. "Best looking guy in all Walkerville highschool, no doubt about it."

"Latino," her blond friend sighed. "Gorgeous..."

"He's up there all right," Clarissa agreed, nodding her head so vigorously her perfect curls bounced lightly on her shoulders.

Dorothy Ann's stomach jolted and she frowned. They were talking about Carlos? Carlos?!!?

Her hand unconsciously tightened on her pencil and she could feel her ears growing warm.

She couldn't quite understand what her body was trying to tell her - well okay, maybe she could. The reason was obviously the fact that her and Carlos had been close friends since kindergarten, so of course she'd find the idea of other girls talking about him that way more than a little nauseating.

DA shook her blond head and tried to redirect her attention back onto her essay.

"You going to invite him to your party next weekend?" Clarissa asked hopefully.

"Is a school bus yellow?" Jill replied, flipping her straight brown hair back over her shoulder and smiling.

The knot in Dorothy Ann's stomach tightened.

"I'll ask him as soon as class is over," Jill continued. "He's always waiting outside the door after this period with that Arnold dork."

DA felt her blood boil. Now she had to listen to them taunt one of her closest friends?! What curse or act of unreasonable cruelty lead to their history teacher to decide that sticking her at the same table with these Barbie's was a good idea?!

"Bet he's just trying to sneak in more glances of me no doubt," Sarah said smiling.

"More like me," Clarissa said teasingly. All three girls giggled.

'He's waiting for me,' Dorothy Ann thought angrily. 'And he's not going to your stupid party either! Did they think he doesn't have better things to do than hang out with a bunch of obnoxious, giggling girls on Friday night listening to that horrible noise they called music?!'

Dorothy Ann pressed down so hard on her paper that her pencil lead snapped. How tactless anyway. Talking about party invites right in front of her, sitting at the same table. They were completely ignoring her. Like she was nothing more than an eraser shaving on their forgotten essays. Well of course that was expected - they didn't care about anyone but themselves - but they certainly didn't have to rub it in her face like this.

"Um, Dorothy?"

Her train of bitter thoughts interrupted by the sickly sweet sound of Jill's voice, Dorothy Ann looked up at the brunette, hardly daring to believe it.

"You finished with that textbook?"

Dorothy Ann narrowed her eyes.

"Oh never mind," Jill said, suddenly looking at her watch. "Bell's about to ring."

"Finally!" Sarah exclaimed as the signal to the end of class sounded. "I thought class would never end!"

Sarah and Clarissa started to pack up their bags with the blank essay pages they had while Jill dipped her pinky into a little pot of lip gloss and applied it. "Well gals, if I want to catch him I'll have to leave now. I'll meet you guys over at the picnic table closest the doors, kay?"

"Kay!"

But Dorothy Ann was up and out the door the second the bell had rung, before the girls had even started packing their bags. She needed to find Carlos first and drag him away from these giggling plastic dolls.

xxx

"Keesha." Wanda spoke in a quite uncharacteristic soft voice, which surprised Keesha slightly, but not enough to get her to look up from her locker.

"Mmhmm..." she answered mildly, more interested in finding her history textbook from underneath a pile of old notes and binders she hadn't had the chance to clean out yet.

"Keesha!" Wanda said again, a little more urgently this time. "Keesha, get your nose out of your locker and look at me! I need to tell you something!"

"I'm listening," Keesha said, still not looking up. She had found her textbook. Now she just had to pull it out from underneath all the loose papers without anything spilling from her locker onto the floor.

"Not here! Come on Keesha, we need to go somewhere where there isn't a crowded hallway!"

"Now? I have History next," Keesha said, stuffing her book into her bag and straightening up. "Can't it wait until lunch or something?"

"No!" And Wanda shouted this word with such fierceness and stress that Keesha actually backed up slightly and finally felt a little curiousity in what she had to say.

"Okay, Okay Wanda, what's up?" she asked, finally closing her locker shut.

"Just come on!" Wanda said desperately, grabbing Keesha's hand and, before she could protest, started to drag Keesha away from her locker forcefully. "I told you, I can't tell you here!"

"Yeah, but Wanda, I don't want to miss History again! Last time I skipped was because of you too remember? And that was just because you wanted lunch early."

"You're starting to sound like DA. Just please Keesha, come on. This is important!"

"Where are we going?" Keesha demanded as Wanda lead her to the schools front doors.

"Just come on!"

Keesha rolled her eyes and, though thoroughly irritated, followed her friend out the doors and into the blistering cold outside.

xxx

"Heey DA, wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Carlos whispered jokingly to her while their science teacher continued his lecture in the front of the room.

"Stop it Carlos," DA said angrily and her pencil lead snapped on the paper. "I'm not in the mood."

Carlos frowned and studied DA. She wasn't normally this short with him. Actually, maybe she was, but still... Something had to be bugging her other than him and his joking comment.

"What's up?" he asked prodding her in the side with the end of his pencil.

"Nothing!" DA snapped, looking determinedly down at her paper. "Stop it Carlos, I'm trying to concentrate."

"DA, I've written down more than you and I'm hardly paying attention..." Carlos pointed out. "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" she said it a bit louder this time and several people sitting in front of them turned around in their seats, including Tim.

Carlos looked quickly at them, tempted to shout at the prying eyes to tell them to mind their own business, but instead lowered his voice and spoke to DA again.

"Seriously, what's bothering you? Are you alright?"

"You're bothering me!" DA hissed and she looked so peeved Carlos didn't ask again.

He turned away from her back onto his notes. He wondered what on earth could be making her so short with him. Had she gotten a B or something on her latest test. Carlos snorted to himself. Yeah, right.. If that were true she'd probably be shrieking hysterically at her teacher or something.

"What's so funny?!" DA suddenly snapped.

"N - nothing," Carlos said quickly, surprised she had decided to start talking to him so soon, even if it was just to tell him off again. "Quiet, you're bothering me." He grinned as she shook her head and turned back to her own notes quickly.

"Family comes before Order, not the other way around," Carlos said casually, looking at her notes.

He saw her grip tighten on her pencil. "I know! I was just going to erase it!"

"You want to know an easy way to remember it?"

"No! I heard_ that_ Mnemosyne sentence already Carlos..." Dorothy Ann said disgustedly.

"Kinky People Come - "

"Mr. Ramone."

Carlos turned around and saw their teacher was no longer at the whiteboard, but standing directly infront of the lab desk he and Dorothy Ann shared. He gulped.

"Would you please stop talking for once in your life and let me continue on with the lesson!" he said said angrily, his hand clutching the yard stick in a white knuckled grip.

"Don't let me stop you," Carlos said, picking up his pencil again. He heard a giggle from the front of the room that could only have been Jill Green, a girl who spoke way more often in this class than he did. And he's the one who got told off?!

Mr. Runes gave Carlos one last warning glare before moving off and continuing his mind numbingly boring lecture. Carlos turned back to Dorothy Ann, who was looking surly again and scribbling furiously on her paper.

"It's me he's angry at, not you," Carlos said, noticing how her mood had darkened.

"Are you doing anything next Saturday?" Dorothy Ann asked suddenly.

Carlos paused. "Er - what? I don't know.. W - why?"

"No - no reason."

"Why, what's going on next week?"

The bell suddenly rang loudly right above him and his hands automatically went up to his ears. Why'd he have to chose the seat right under it he did not know. "What's going on next week?" he repeated.

"N - nothing," DA said quickly and began packing up her things. "Are you doing anything today?"

"Soccer practice after school," said Carlos, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "But I can do something after."

"Okay, Wanda said she'd bring a movie over or something," Carlos heard her say quickly. She looked a little nervous. What was going on?!

"Okay, yeah, count me in."

Dorothy Ann seemed happier after that which only made Carlos more puzzled than ever. But he didn't bother asking what was wrong again. They didn't have their next classes together, but Dorothy Ann and him always left science class together, sometimes with Tim, and walked as far as they could until they had to split off into their separate classes. So Carlos waited for her to finished packing up all her stuff into her pink bookbag, drumming his fingers on the desk absentmindedly.

When Dorothy Ann crammed the last book into her bag and swing it over her shoulder, he made to move towards the doorway.

"Miss Parker?"

Carlos heard his teacher call the name out from the front of the room. He turned to DA curiously, but she just shrugged apologetically. "I'll see you after school then."

"A - alright," Carlos said, as Tim walked up to his side. "See you then." He watched Dorothy Ann turn around and walk to the front of the classroom where Mr. Runes was waiting with Gus Mackerson. Gus Mackerson...? What the hell did Mr. Runes want with him and DA?

"Come on," Tim prodded him in the back. "You're blocking the doorway."

"Right," Carlos said, and walked outside the classroom to his next lesson, shutting the door behind Tim.

xxx

"Ok Wanda, we're here," Keesha said bitterly, rubbing her frozen fingers together and wishing she had managed to grab a jacket or something before Wanda had dragged her away from her locker. "What is it you need to tell me?"

When Wanda didn't immediately respond Keesha turned to her friend, only to see that Wanda wasn't even looking at her. She was also shivering, dressed worse for the weather than Keesha was, though she was wearing a touque at the very least. Her shiny black hair hung down from it elegantly. No matter how hard Keesha tried, she could never get her hair that straight. Just one of the things she was jealous of Wanda for that she'd never admit in a million years.

Wanda was now absentmindedly picking on the bark of the tree they were standing beside with her polished nails. They two were in the little stretch of forest that grew right next to the school's grass field. That's where Wanda's attention was now. Keesha followed her brown eyes and saw that Wanda was looking at Carlos and Ralphie in the PE class specifically. The two boys were as far as they could have been from them and still be on the grass field, next to the bleachers.

"Wanda," Keesha suddenly snapped, tearing her own eyes from the two boys to look back at Wanda. "You bring me out here in this freezing cold to talk, and you haven't said one word since we got here!"

Wanda jumped slightly, as though she had forgotten Keesha was here and turned from the field. She looked hopelessly at Keesha.

"Keehsa," she said, now sounding very matter-of-fact. "I'm late."

"... for what?"

"Late!" Wanda suddenly shouted. And it was then Keesha saw the desperation in her voice and suddenly understood.

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	2. Chapter 2

"So what did Mr. Runes want with you and Mackerson today after math class?" Carlos asked, trying to sound only mildly curious.

Ralphie snorted and, as a result, almost choked on his iced tea. "Mackerson? Gus Mackerson?! That dweeb who told on me for bringing that firecracker to school that one Halloween?"

"Oh Ralphie, don't call him a dweeb. He was right, you shouldn't have brought it in the first place!" Phoebe scolded.

Dorothy Ann nodded, taking a sip of her lemonade with a straw, "Yes, that Gus Mackerson." Her, the two boys, Phoebe, and Keesha were all sitting around Carlos' living room table, eating snacks, and distracting themselves with conversation and a laid back card game instead of doing their homework.

Ralphie banged his fist on the table. "Ha! What'd old Runes want with you two?"

Dorothy Ann suddenly turned very pink, and looked as though she was trying not to appear too pleased with herself. Carlos cocked an eyebrow.

"What?" he said sharply, tapping the deck of cards on the wooden table.

Dorothy Ann tried and failed to suppress a grin. "He asked Gus and me if we would both be interested in participating in a state chemistry lab contest together."

Ralphie choked on his iced tea. "Ha! You and Gus all cozied up in a chem lab together!" Carlos punched him in the arm.

"Ralphie stop it!" Phoebe said again. "He's not that bad really!"

"His hair's greasy."

"So?! He's really nice you know!"

"Calm down, Phoebe," Keesha smiled. "Don't forget about your own boyfriend, Tim."

Phoebe went a bit pink, and didn't look too pleased that Keesha had brought up the subject.

"We haven't even gone on an official date yet.." Phoebe said to the table quietly. "It was just that one kiss. And it was all on his part too."

"Are you going out with him though?" Ralphie demanded. Phoebe just shrugged, still avoiding everyone's eyes and looking a little glum.

"Speaking of boyfriends," Keesha suddenly turned sharply to Ralphie. "Has Wanda spoken to you recently?"

Ralphie didn't meet her gaze, evidently more interested in shuffling his hand of cards. "Yeah.. After school. I asked her if she was coming today to hang out, but she said she wasn't feeling well."

Everyone but Ralphie saw Keesha raise an eyebrow, almost pityingly. "Oh..."

Ralphie finally looked up. "What?!"

"Uh," Keesha bit her lip. "Nothing. I was just talking to her and..." Keesha stopped talking and looked around the group nervously like she had almost spoken something forbidden. "Just deal the cards already Carlos!"

"What?!" Ralphie demanded, placing his cards face down on the table. "What did she tell you?! What did I do?"

"Talk to her about this!" Keesha said through gritted teeth, looking very nervous and worried. Everyone turned to her curiously. "Just - !" she threw her hands up defensively. "Nothing! Can we please just - just deal the cards and forget I said anything..."

Ralphie was still watching Keesha, clearly very puzzled. Phoebe was looking nervously around at the group. "Um, but anyways, that's great news DA! Where's the competition?"

Every looked relieved that she had changed the subject and turned their attention back to a slightly embarrassed DA. "Oh um, Lotterdale. Just a few hours drive really."

"When is it?" Carlos asked.

"Three weeks I think.. I can't remember the exact date," Dorothy Ann replied. She drummed her fingers on the table absentmindedly. "I have to stay after school a lot and brush up on some lab techniques until then.." she looked less thrilled at this piece of news.

"With Guuuss...?" Ralphie asked, mockingly, and then winked.

Carlos hit him on the arm again before turned back to DA. "Well?!" he demanded. "With Gus?"

Dorothy Ann nodded. Carlos tried not to look too disgruntled at this and turned his attention back to shuffling the deck.

xxx

Ralphie didn't get home until nine that night: when Carlos had finally kicked him out of his house insisting that they had no food left. When he arrived, he flicked on the entrance hall light and stepped inside his kitchen. His mom, who had apologized to him this morning before he had left for school that she was working late at the hospital again, had left some money on the kitchen table for take out. Having eaten more than enough at Carlos' already, Ralphie left the money where it was and walked over to the phone hanging by the refrigerator door.

He stared at it for a few seconds, wondering whether or not he should call Wanda. He wasn't too worried about what Keesha had said, or possibly let slip, just a few hours earlier, but... There was something now nagging at the back of his head. He couldn't remember doing anything that had gotten Wanda mad recently... She didn't usually hide any sort of anger towards him if she was indeed mad, and in any case, she didn't sound particularly irritated today when he'd last talked to her after school. Though... Ralphie frowned when he remembered, she had sort of backed away when he'd tried to kiss her...

Ralphie brought a hand up to his hair and rain his fingers through it hard. She - she had said she wasn't feeling well. Probably just didn't want him to catch whatever she had... yeah... that must have been it...

Ralphie bit his lip. The anxiousness. was getting to him. He had to call her. He picked up the phone and moved his fingers to the pad to dial her number. At any rate, he should at least call and see if she was feeling any better.

The phone rang once and Ralphie's stomach contracted. He swallowed and tried to tell himself that he was just being paranoid. He and Wanda were never in any trouble concerning their relationship, which was a bit surprising because he'd never considered any sort of long term relationship coming from her. And him... Really, the fact they had lasted this long had caused a lot of his close friends to lose quite of bit of money in bets.

The phone rang three times before someone picked up. "Wanda?!" asked Ralphie urgently.

"It's William," Ralphie heard her younger brother say. Ralphie held in a groan. Wanda had the most obnoxious brother ever, which was why the two of them hardly ever had sex over at her place. Which was kind of a shame because she had the softest bed sheets and the bigger bed. But it wasn't really that big of a shame. Ralphie would be willing to do it anywhere with her.

"Is Wanda there?" Ralphie asked.

"Who's this?"

"Ralphie, can you please give the phone to Wanda."

There was a pause. "She's busy."

"Come on William, just give her the phone. _Please_," he made sure to put a strong emphasis on the last word.

"She doesn't want to talk to you," William said bluntly.

"I don't care, give her the phone!"

_Click._

Ralphie heard the phone disconnect. Bastard... He slammed the phone back down on it's hook, deciding he'd try calling back in half an hour, hoping next time Wanda would answer. But the next time he tried, no one answered the phone. He gave up around midnight and, exhausted, went to bed, hoping he could sort this all out with her the next morning.

xxx

"Hey sweetie."

Phoebe grimaced as she felt Tim take a firm hold on her shoulders before planting a wet kiss on her cheek. He then yawned hugely and took the seat next to her in their shared math class. "How was your morning?"

Phoebe shrugged. It was the first class of the day and she felt less than enthused about spending it in only Tim's company. At least it was sunny, she thought, looking wistfully at the open window next to her desk. The cool breeze blew lightly around her auburn hair and she closed her eyes. Maybe she'd have a chance to work a bit in her garden today. Her mood suddenly brightened at the thought.

"Hey," Tim poked her playfully on the wrist with the sharp tip of his pencil. "You doing anything tonight?"

"Oh, um, tonight?" Phoebe tried to stall for time a bit. How did Tim get so... irritating overnight? Ever since he kissed her out of the blue that one day on her balcony after a particularly sensitive discussion about both their failures to be in any sort of relationship with the opposite sex. Now she found herself trying to avoid him whenever possible.

She liked Tim, she really did, just... just not in the same way he seemed to like her. Every time he kissed her she felt extremely awkward, and couldn't help but wish it was someone else kissing her instead...

Phoebe shook her head as an orange haired boy in glasses appeared smiling in her mind. She felt her cheeks growing hot and quickly turned her attention back to Tim. "Tonight... um, no, I'm not doing anything... I don't think."

"Great!" Tim grinned widely. "Then I was thinking it'd maybe be cool if we went to that old drive in they have downtown."

"Um.. Actually," Phoebe said quickly. "I was thinking of doing some work in my garden. You know, since it's sunny today and all."

"Oh..." Tim looked very uninterested in the prospect. "Well..."

"Maybe another night," Phoebe said. "I just - I mean you could help me if you want."

"No, it's alright," Tim smiled. "Another night's fine." And he reached over with one hand and placed it over hers. His skin looked so dark against her pale wrist. Phoebe looked down glumly. She had never been able to tan, only burn and freckle. Tim had told her he loved her pale skin because it reminded him of an angels wings... Phoebe had had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes in disgust when he'd told her that. She did not like people pointing out the fact she was the palest of the group, except for maybe Arnold, and liked it even less when Tim used such cheesy similes to describe it in a positive light.

"Another night," Phoebe said firmly, and slid her arm out from under his grasp so that she could write down the math equation presented to the class on the board.

xxx

"Alright Wanda," Keesha said firmly, holding Wanda tightly by the arm and presenting her in front of the rest of the girls. "You told me, you should at least tell the rest if you're too afraid to say anything to Ralphie yet."

It was lunchtime at Walkerville highschool and the four girls were now sitting in the exact same spot Keesha and Wanda had been in when Wanda had first told her news. Phoebe and DA were both sitting on the edge of the grass field, sandwiches in hands, looking up at Wanda and Keesha curiously. Keesha looked at Wanda warningly. Wanda wrenched her arm out of Keesha's grasp.

"Fine!" she hissed. "I was going to tell them anyway, you didn't have to drag me over here!"

Keesha crossed her arms and Wanda sighed before turning to the other two girls. "I think I'm pregnant."

There was a long pause.

"P - pregnant..." Phoebe asked quietly, in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

Wanda didn't reply, but instead slumped down miserably on the grass and Keesha followed suit before putting an arm around her shoulders.

"So.." DA turned away from Wanda and to Keesha. "You haven't told Ralphie yet?"

"What am I going to do?!" Wanda wailed desperately. "This is going to ruin my whole life. "They're going to kick me off the baseball team, I'll never have enough money to get into aviation school, Ralphie'll probably leave me the moment he finds out!"

"No he won't!" Phoebe said firmly, moving towards Wanda and throwing her arms around her. "Don't worry, Wanda. I won't let him!"

"Carlos'd kick his ass if he tried," Keesha said reassuringly.

Wanda returned Phoebe's hug and didn't reply.

xxx

Despite the fact Dorothy Ann had been looking very cheerful that whole morning, even laughing at one of his jokes he'd told her when they'd been waiting for Arnold to find the book he had left in the cafeteria the day before, she looked quite unhappy again in science class that day after lunch. Why science class?! It was the only class the two of them shared _and_ it was her favorite subject, what could possibly make her miserable here?!

"What's up, DA?" he asked again.

"Nothing," she said, not looking at him. She suddenly sighed and said. "Um, do - do you think... Ralphie loves Wanda?"

_That_ took him by surprise. "W - what?" he asked, bewildered.

"You're his best friend. Does he?"

"He's... never really talked about it before..." Carlos said slowly. Dorothy Ann could be very strange sometimes. As not just strange as in, reading physics textbooks in her spare time. "Why so curious?"

"You'll find out soon enough..." Dorothy sighed, almost sadly.

"DA, what - "

"Hey, guys." Tim had just slid his stool up to their table in cheery greeting. He grinned at the pair of them and slipped a piece of paper onto DA's workbook. "Do you think Phoebe'd like it?"

Dorothy Ann looked at the scrap he'd just passed under her nose. "What is it?"

"A diagram of my feelings for her."

Carlos resisted the urge to snort outloud with laughter and peered over DA's shoulder onto the paper. "It looks like a diseased lung."

Tim snatched the paper back. "Didn't expect you two to know good art when you see it. It's called _abstract_ art."

"No, it's called a diseased lung."

DA laughed and turned to Tim. "I never thought I'd agree with him... but he's right Tim.. Try drawing a kitten or something next time."

Tim huffed and turned his back on the two of them, muttering something that sounded like, 'not creative' and, 'not as personal'.

"So are you staying after school with Gus today?" Carlos inquired, trying to sound casual, and praying silently that the answer was no.

"Yes," DA said. "We need the practice though. Mr. Runes wants us to go through a few titrations today."

"Oh, okay... But you can still make it to my soccer game tonight right?" he asked hopefully. "If we win this we get to go to Bridgeton for finals next week."

"Yeah, I think I can make it," DA answered and his heart lifted slightly. "As long as I don't have too much homework or something."

Carlos grinned. "Here's hoping."

Mr. Rune started his lesson then and DA fell quiet, taking careful notes. It was the last class of the day, so when the bell rang, Carlos bade goodbye to DA as she stayed behind. Gus was already setting up the lab in the far corner of the room. Greasy git. Carlos glared as DA walked up to him and helped him get the buret in place. Carlos quickly turned away and followed Tim out the door, suddenly in a much darker mood.

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	3. Chapter 3

Dorothy Ann stared at the erlenmeyer flask in front of her dully, waiting for the colour indicator to finally turn the right shade of green so she could go home. She was hunched over the desk, sitting on her stool, her head resting on one hand while the other controlled the level of acid being poured into the flask of base. Gus Mackerson was sitting on the stool next to her, scribbling down a few equations on a scrap sheet of paper.

Dorothy Ann turned away from the titration for a second and peered down curiously to see what exactly Gus was calculating. She had gone to the same school as him for years, but had never really spoken to him much. He had always been rather quiet, not shy, just quiet. He was also one of the smartest boys in their year and it really showed. It was no wonder Mr. Runes had chosen him and her to participate in this state wide contest together. Though, Dorothy Ann turned back to the flask, she had sort of wished he'd picked someone else as her partner... Dorothy Ann shook her head, trying to rid herself of the image of her and Carlos locked alone in the classroom together that had suddenly popped into her mind.

She suddenly bit her lip and wondered if Jill had asked Carlos to the party yet. He hadn't mentioned anything about it, though she didn't really expect him to unless she asked him what he was doing next week. She was probably worrying about this too much, but she wasn't stupid. She knew perfectly well what went on at those parties. She'd heard enough from Wanda and Ralphie, in fact, if she remembered correctly, their first kiss was at one of Jill's parties. God... Wanda and Ralphie.. She had almost forgotten.

Wanda pregnant? Pregnant?! It couldn't be happening. It couldn't, not now. Wanda was no where near being close to being ready for a child. She was still a child herself and Ralphie was no better. Ralphie... How on earth would he take it?! Dorothy Ann's stomach clenched at the thought of Wanda raising the baby without a father. She wouldn't exactly put it past Ralphie to run...

"Dorothy Ann!"

Dorothy Ann jumped as Gus finally addressed her after two hours of painful silence.

"Don't let the acid run past 50," he said, indicating to the buret. "Otherwise we can't measure it."

"Oh!" DA was suddenly brought back into reality. "S - sorry. I'll go get more acid shall I?"

And she quickly hopped off her stool and hurried over to the counter with a beaker in her hand. When she got there, instead of immediately picking up the acid, she found herself gazing out the window on to the grass field. Carlos' soccer game had already started, she could see the little figures about 100 yards away running around the field towards a goal. She squinted, she couldn't see Carlos, but - wait, she could see Jill. The cheerleaders seemed to have taken a break and were chatting animately to each other next to the goal posts. A few soccer players taken off for time being were with them. Dorothy Ann narrowed her eyes. Jill could have any boy she wanted, why did she have to go for the only boy _she _wanted.

Dorothy Ann suddenly frowned, and leaned further across the table so that she could get a better view. Unless her 20/20 vision was fooling her, Jill was talking to Carlos.. Dorothy Ann leaned in so close her nose was pressed up against the glass of the window. She was talking to Carlos, laughing, did - did she just playfully push him back on the chest?!

"Dorothy Ann?" Gus called from the side table.

"Right," DA jumped, and turned her attention back to the acid. She quickly poured in a sizeable amount and brought it back to the table.

"What's with you today, I thought you liked chemistry?" Gus said, though he wasn't looking at her when he said it, still punching numbers into his calculator.

"That's really none of your business," Dorothy Ann said, trying not to sound too cold. She sighed. "Sorry, it's just, a lot's come up this week..."

She saw Gus nod, "Yeah, I know. Tell me about it. Three tests and a quiz this week!"

"Mmm.." was all Dorothy Ann said and she turned her attention back into the buret.

xxx

"Carlos," said Ralphie impatiently as his best friend collapsed on the bench beside him. "That's the third time you let the damn ball get away from you today! What's going on?! Coach Cleets is going to kill you, you know. And I'm the one that's going to have to haul your muddy carcass home!"

"I'm fine," Carlos said quickly, grabbing a bottle of water and emptying half it's contents on his head. "Just not... feeling that well."

"Uh huh..." Ralphie said unconvinced, tying up his shoelaces. "Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that DA's locked up in the science classroom with Gus Mackerson does it...?"

"No!" Carlos insisted. "It's not - Ralphie, " he looked angry. "Would you stop - "

"Carlos," Ralphie said. "You and DA are the only one's dumb enough to realize what's going on between you two - "

"Did you just call me dumb?!"

"And all I'm saying is, suck it up, and go ask her out already."

"_You_ just called me and DA dumb?!"

Ralphie nodded. "Yeah! And I'm the one failing two classes!" He got up from the bench and started moving off towards the grass field. Carlos jumped off the bench to join him.

"Look, I don't have a problem with DA being partnered up with Gus for that science thing!" he said, stepping in front of Ralphie.

"Ok," said Ralphie.

"I don't!"

"Fine," Ralphie walked around Carlos, towards the locker room. Carlos stopped him again.

"And even if I did like her like... like that, it's not like I'd think Gus'd actually have a chance with her."

"Because chemistry nerds just don't do that for her..." Ralphie smirked.

"He's pasty," Carlos muttered.

Ralphie rolled his eyes and stepped around Carlos again. "And you're not fooling anyone," he muttered under his breath.

xxx

Despite the fact Carlos Ramone had played the worst he had since he had just recovered from a broken leg three seasons ago, Walkerville highschool won the game. The final score was 3-2 and Ralphie insisted on having a small party at his house to celebrate. And for once in his life, a promise of a small party actually led to a small party. Wanda was the first to arrive at his house after he'd come home and showered.

He'd been a bit worried she would have refused to come. Or made up some excuse. She had been avoiding him lately, which was odd. Ralphie suddenly smirked, usually she had trouble keeping her hands off him.

When Wanda arrived, she definitely looked like something was bothering her. For one, it didn't look like she'd bothered to brush her hair and two, she'd snapped at him harsher than usual when he'd accidently spilled the glass of water she'd asked for.

"God Ralphie, you have to spoil everything!" she'd shouted when the glass had smashed on the kitchen floor.

Ralphie, who had just gone to the stove to get a towel, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I just spilled some water Wanda. This isn't even your house."

"So?! That's no excuse for being - "

Ralphie was spared a few minutes of shouting by the ring of the doorbell. He dropped the rag and hurried over to the entrance hall before Wanda could say anything else.

Carlos arrived with Tim, both looking a bit bad tempered. Ralphie knew why Carlos looked so murderous: Dorothy Ann hadn't ended up showing up at the game like she'd evidently promised Carlos. She'd come to the field after the victory to apologize for missing it and, after claiming she still had some cleaning left to do, assured Ralphie she could come to the party as long as he kept it small and didn't invite any of the school's harlots.

xxx

"When'd Ralphie call?" Arnold asked, leaning lightly on the railing of Phoebe's porch.

"Um.. Half an hour ago or something," Phoebe said. "I told him we'd be there when I'd finished the chores."

The two of them were standing on the large porch in Phoebe's back yard, overlooking the garden. Phoebe was hanging up the wet laundry onto a clothesline that ran the length of the yard. Arnold had originally offered to volunteer, but when he'd accidently picked up a pair of Phoebe's panties, he promptly freaked out, and asked if he could just water the potted plants instead. A very red Phoebe had agreed that this was definitely a better idea.

So there they were on the porch, Phoebe hanging up the last few pairs of socks, and Arnold, who had already finished watering all the plants, leaning casually on the railing.

"I don't really want to go," Phoebe said quickly.

"He said it'd be small," Arnold said. "I'm going, you have to come."

Phoebe clipped one of her green socks onto the line, the ones the colour of her eyes, and sighed. "Arnold, it's because of Tim..." She looked back down at the basket and avoided Arnold's gaze.

"Tim...? Oh right, you gone on a date yet?"

Still not looking at him, Phoebe shook her head. "He asked me out today. But I said I'd rather work in the garden while it's still sunny.."

Phoebe heard Arnold walk up to her and saw his pale hands grasp the edge of the basket. She looked up into his pale blue eyes, shining brightly behind his round glasses. "So then you asked me?"

"Um.. Yes," said Phoebe, wishing more than anything her face wouldn't grow red. "But - but I told him he could come if he wanted, and he said save it for another night."

Arnold looked a little troubled. "Look, when you do turn down Tim... Just, be careful about it..."

He wasn't looking at her anymore, and Phoebe could tell by his expression, what he was thinking. He had been head over heels for Wanda a few years ago. It had started out as a small crush, and grown into a lot more once the two had hit puberty. Phoebe remembered how heart broken she had been when she'd seen Arnold kissing Wanda under the mistletoe one Christmas and then how devastated Arnold had been when they had split up after two weeks. Arnold was still touchy about the subject, even though it had happened over two years ago; so was Phoebe. She had been the only one of the group to feel relief and happiness vs. shock when Wanda and Ralphie had suddenly discovered an interest in each other.

Wanda and Ralphie. Phoebe suddenly bit her lip as she remembered. Wanda _couldn't_ be pregnant, she just couldn't. It was a horrible just thinking of the possibility. Phoebe's hands tensed on the sock she was holding and looked back at Arnold; she wondered how he'd take it.

"I'll be careful about it," Phoebe assured him and sighed miserably.

xxx

Tim put his drink down on the coffee table in Ralphie's living room and looked at Dorothy Ann, who was sitting next to him, her hands folded tensely in her lap.

"What's wrong DA?"

"Yeah," Carlos had just joined the two on the couch. "Aren't you happy we won?" Tim frowned at Carlos. It had been almost a year since he had told Carlos he might have had a crush on DA, and Carlos still wouldn't leave the two alone for more than a minute if he could help it. Tim was sure now that he didn't feel anything for Dorothy Ann anymore, and wondered if what Carlos was doing was intentional or not. It still bugged him though. He'd hoped Carlos would back off once he'd started dating Phoebe.

"Oh yes, I'm thrilled you won of course," Dorothy Ann assured quickly. "And that you're going to Bridgeton tomorrow."

Carlos grinned pompously and put his feet up on Ralphie's coffee table. Tim frowned at looked at his watch. Phoebe should be here soon.

"What do you think is taking Phoebe and Arnold so long?" he asked no one in particular. Carlos and DA merely shrugged on the couch. Keesha was picking at the carpeting nervously and not really paying much attention to her surroundings. Ralphie and Wanda had disappeared off somewhere.

"Mmm..." was the only response he got from them. What was with all these long faces?? He should have brought his sketchbook.. if he had known this 'party' was going to be this uneventful.

"Where did Wanda and Ralphie go?" Carlos asked suddenly, looking behind his shoulder into the kitchen.

Tim was just about to respond with, 'do you really want to know?' before Keesha interrupted them.

"Wanda's pregnant," she said quickly, like she wanted to get the information out before she could stop it. Dorothy Ann gasped next to Tim.

"Keesha!"

"They were going to find out soon enough anyway!" Keesha defended. "Wanda just told me she's going off to tell him! Isn't it better just to get it all out in the open at once?!"

"Wait, what?!" Carlos choked, there was water all over the coffee table from when he had spat it out in shock.

"Tell who what?" It was Phoebe, her and Arnold had just arrived. Tim was too dumbfounded to even get up and greet her with a kiss. He saw Keesha give Phoebe a knowing glare and Phoebe's eyes widened.

"Oh no!"

"What?!" Arnold demanded, looking around the room at the shocked, and white faces. Keesha was looking like she was about to cry, Dorothy Ann still looked surprised that Keesha had told the boys Wanda's secret; Phoebe's nails were in her mouth and she looked nervous, Carlos looked like he was about to be sick.

Tim was still just trying to make sense of the situation. "Wanda... pregnant?" he asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Pregnant!?!!?!" Arnold shouted, shocked. Phoebe shushed him frantically and clamped a hand to his mouth.

"Shh!" she whispered nervously. "Ralphie might not know yet!"

They fell silent again, and a split second later, all heard a thud coming from the second floor.

"I think he knows," Carlos said quietly, still looking thouroughly shocked himself.

"Come on!" Keesha ordered, jumping to her feet. The rest followed suit as she hurried towards the stairs leading to Ralphie's bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ralphie? Ralphie!" Arnold sighed. "Get your head up off the table!"

Ralphie, who's head was buried in his arms as he slumped over the table, responded with a moan.

The party had ended rather abruptly. When the friends had rushed upstairs towards Ralphie's bedroom where they had heard the thud, they had found Ralphie passed out on his bedroom floor with an exasperated Wanda crouching above him. It had taken them a while to wake him up, and then afterwards, he seemed to have trouble stringing two words together. Wanda had then stormed off rather angrily and the girls quickly followed her out the door.

Now Carlos, Tim, Arnold, and Ralphie were sitting around Ralphie's kitchen table; Ralphie with his head buried in his arms, Arnold sitting at his side with a few bath salts resting in front of him in case Ralphie passed out again. Carlos had a hand on Ralphie's shoulder.

"Ralphie," Carlos' tone was rather matter-of-fact, which Tim knew Ralphie wouldn't appreciate very much. "How could you have been so stupid!?"

Ralphie just groaned again.

"After all those lectures given by our teachers about contraceptives and you couldn't even - "

"Well it's a little late for that isn't it!" Ralphie had finally lifted his head out of his arms to retort; his brown hair was sticking up on all ends and was still damp from when Arnold had poured a glass of water over his head in an attempt to reanimate him.

"You're the one who skipped every planning class about 'safe sex' and you're the only one who needed it!" Carlos shook his head pityingly.

"What, you're proud of that Ramone?!"

"Hey at least I didn't get some girl knocked up!"

"Yeah, DA'd never have sex without a condom."

Carlos furiously whirled around to face Arnold. "Hey! Would you guys stop - "

"Ralphie you've got to talk to her about this," Tim interrupted quickly. "She didn't look very happy when she left."

"Well, DUH!" Ralphie shouted, his round face turning red. At least the colour was coming back, Tim thought, slightly relieved. "She can't expect me to - to... pregnant?!" He buried his head in his arms again.

Arnold drummed his fingers on the table, next to the bath salts, it looked like he might need them again soon. "You're not going to run out on her are you?" he asked, sounding worried.

"No he's not," Carlos said, looking warningly down at Ralphie. "Right?!" he demanded.

Ralphie just groaned again. Arnold hit him on the top of his head.

"Snap out of it! You can't honestly be thinking of - "

"Look! I didn't say anything, so stop - " Ralphie's head was up again and he looked livid. "You have no idea how - Well, what would you do?!"

"Not have sex?" Tim put in. Arnold, Carlos, and Ralphie stared. "I - meant unprotected. Anyways, Ralphie, you're not going to - "

"No, I'm not going to run," Ralphie sighed before dropping his face back down on the table. Carlos clapped him once on the shoulder before standing up to get his friend a beer from the kitchen.

xxx

"Urg! Moron!"

"He was just surprised Wanda," Dorothy Ann said quietly, rubbing Wanda on the back. "Give him a bit of time to digest the news."

The four girls were sitting on the bleachers overlooking the small baseball field in the local park. It was already quite dark, but the darker the better. Wanda hadn't wanted to go back home just yet, and the park was usually very secluded at this time of night.

"Why - why didn't you use.. you know," Phoebe sounded nervous, like she was carefully choosing how exactly to phrase her question. "Use protection or something?"

"I don't know.. There was that one frigging time when Ralphie forgot!" Wanda shouted, and Phoebe backed up slightly.

"Voice down Wanda," Keesha said calmly. "You don't want anyone to hear - "

"Oh they'll find out in nine months won't they?!" Wanda shrieked. "Ralphie'll leave me and I'll have to raise this stupid kid on my own on the streets and I'll never learn how to fly a stupid plane! My life is ruined!"

Keesha pulled a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to Wanda. "We'll help you. You won't be alone."

"Yeah," Wanda snorted. "Right... You say that now..."

"Carlos' beat Ralphie if he doesn't," Keesha tried to assure.

"And if he doesn't, I will!" Phoebe said. No one laughed even though they all thought the idea of Phoebe taking on Ralphie was a little funny. Although Phoebe did look rather fierce right now as she proclaimed her warning.

xxx

Carlos went home feeling rather grim that night. Tim, Arnold, and himself had made sure that Ralphie was in bed before his mother had gotten home so he wouldn't give himself away and cause her to ask too many questions. They had left after and hadn't really spoken much about what had just happened; they were all quite relieved when Tim brought up another subject about some art show soon after leaving. Even though that particular topic usually bored Carlos to death, he listened to it eagerly this time.

Now he was back at home, lying on his back, fully clothed, on his bed. Just staring up at the ceiling, his mind a bit blank. It was already well past midnight and his house was silent, save for the light humming of the empty fish tank in the corner of his room. Everyone was in bed when he'd gotten home. He'd cleaned up the few dishes left on the kitchen table, more because he needed something to do to preoccupy his mind than anything, and then gone up to his room where he was now lying.

But he wasn't really thinking about Ralphie's situation right now, he wasn't trying to think about anything. After a few moments of listening to the mindless buzzing in his ears, Carlos tilted his head to the left slightly and saw his suitcase lying open on the floor. He'd brought up it to his room from the basement yesterday so he'd be ready to pack just in case they won the game today; in which case the bus would take them to Bridgeton tomorrow afternoon. There wasn't anything in it right now and Carlos wondered if he should just start packing now. He wasn't feeling very tired at any rate.

He decided against it however and closed his eyes. It seemed impossible that a few hours ago he had been worried about DA locked up in a chemistry classroom with that dweeb Gus Mackerson. Carlos' stomach suddenly tightened and he momentarily forgot all about Wanda.

Dammit! Why did Mr. Runes have to choose DA and Gus?! He was just as good a chemistry student as she was! He'd even started doing the homework they were assigned but not required to do.

Carlos turned over onto his stomach and buried his face into his pillow as unwanted thoughts entered his mind. She wasn't planning on doing any more practice this weekend with Gus - at least as far as he knew. So it was probably safe for him to leave for the two days for the game.

He shifted restlessly on his side again, on hand under his head, and wondered what the chances were of Ralphie coming to the game. Probably about as slim as Dorothy Ann full on declaring her undying love for him tomorrow before he left and kissing him senseless. Carlos couldn't help but smile at the thought and suddenly wondered, maybe, just maybe, that - since everyone else was so determind in thinking he had a crush on DA - that maybe _he_ should kiss her goodbye. Maybe.

And, suddenly feeling relaxed and happy at the very thought, Carlos finally began to drift off to sleep.

xxx

Dorothy Ann walked silently with her hands stuffed inside her favorite pink jacket's pocket's. She was walking next to Carlos as the two of them made their way to the school where Carlos would board the bus that would take him to Bridgeton for the soccer tournament. And take Jill along with him...

Dorothy Ann swallowed. She had jumped at the idea of coming with Carlos to the school when he'd asked her if she wanted to. Last night, after lying in bed for awhile worrying about Wanda, her mind had suddenly strayed to Jill and almost subconsciously, a plan had formed in her mind that involved making sure Carlos would not forget her when Jill would be trying to seduce him in her devilish ways. Dorothy Ann swallowed again and suddenly looked up at Carlos, who's eyes were on the pavement before him. What had seemed so easy last night thinking of in bed, was already promising to be rather difficult to do now that he was actually here beside her.

And they were getting nearer and nearer to the bus station; her chances of kissing him goodbye - in a way she had never done before - seemed slimmer and slimmer. The two hadn't even spoken since they'd left his house, both forcefully reminded of the revelation of news the night previous the moment they set eyes on each other.

Carlos didn't look like he was feeling particularly uncomfortable though. His hands too, were stuffed in his pockets, but he looked relatively happy. He was, after all, going to one of the biggest game opportunities ever presented to Walkerville high.

Dorothy Ann suddenly felt a drop of rain land on her head and she looked out, straight ahead of her. There was the bus stop, directly in front of the school. The sight wasn't particularly shocking, but DA did start and almost ended up tripping over a crack in the sidewalk a second later.

Carlos however, and his quick reflexes, grabbed her before she could fall face first onto the pavement.

"Woah, watch it," he said, as she gained her balance. "You okay?"

"Yes of course I'm okay," Dorothy Ann said fiercely. "I only stumbled for heaven's sake!"

"Okay, okay, sorry..." Carlos shook his head, but he was grinning.

They stopped walking when they were a few paces away from the bus stop. Only a few other people were there, students Dorothy Ann only knew by name, and the bus hadn't arrived yet. It did only when Carlos unloaded his duffle over his shoulder in relief.

Dorothy Ann saw him groan bend down to pick up the undoubtably heavy bag again. "So, you'll be back.. - "

"Uh, late Sunday probably..." Carlos groaned as he heaved the pack back over his shoulder. "It's not very far to Bridgeton." He started walking towards the side of the bus. The driver had already come out to open the side compartments for luggage. Carlos stuffed his bag in.

"See you then, then," Dorothy Ann suddenly felt rather uncomfortable and it must have showed because a second later Carlos smirked at her.

"Aww, you really going to miss me that much?" he teased. Dorothy Ann responded by rolling her eyes and ignored the flutter in her chest that always seemed to happen when he cracked that smile he was currently giving her.

"You wish Carlos..."

Carlos shifted his carry on backpack strap on his shoulder. "Well, thanks for walking with me over here anyways."

"No problem," DA said. There was a pause while they both stared at each other. DA saw Carlos swallow and her eyes quickly moved from his face and onto the street. It was easier to look down at the ground instead of his face, flawless face; there was a wad of pink gum lodged in one of the cracks, a second after she looked down, she saw a small droplet of water hit the pavement, and then felt one land on her head. It had started raining.

"Carlos!"

Dorothy Ann suddenly looked up, she recognized that voice. Had to endure it through every history class. Her hands tightened on the pink strap of her bookbag as she saw Jill bouncing on the balls of her feet waving at the two of them. Well, just waving at Carlos. She hurried over to them once she had gotten Carlos' attention and threw one arm across Carlos' shoulder. She was just as tall as him; a foot taller than Dorothy Ann.

"Bridgeton for two days with minimum adult supervision!" Jill squealed. "Aren't you psyched!" Her pin straight brown hair jumped up and down as she spoke and shook her head excitedly.

"Er - yeah." Carlos looked a little sheepish. "I'll see you later then DA."

And with that and one last wave, he left, Jill's arm still around his shoulders; together the two walked towards the bus, leaving a furious Dorothy Ann in their wake.

She turned on her heel and stormed off, without a backwards glance at the disgusting sight, in the direction of her home; expecting to spend the next to days soaking in her own self pity and worries. As she walked, and as the rain got harder and harder, and her worries grew, she didn't realize she was moving towards a person who's problems were a lot greater than hers at the moment. Ran into him actually.

Dorothy Ann had quickly looked back up from the ground at the person she'd just bumped into to apologized, but stopped when she'd seen it was just Ralphie. She figured he must have been heading towards the bus stop she had just vacated to board the same bus Carlos and Jill just had. DA felt mildly surprised that he was actually going.

"Hey," she greeted quietly, not quite sure what exactly to say to him.

"Hey," Ralphie said miserably, not looking at her, but at his shoelaces instead. "DA," he suddenly looked up. "I can't go to this stupid soccer game and actually play!"

"Then why are you going?" Dorothy Ann asked. "Stay here and actually talk to Wanda - "

"My mom doesn't know why I don't want to go," Ralphie said quickly. "I'm sure as hell not telling her..." He stopped talking then and started to move around Dorothy Ann in the direction of the bus stop. "See you around then..."

Dorothy Ann let him go; she watched him for a few seconds as he miserably made his way towards the school, head and shoulders slouched, before turning around and walking back home by herself.

xxx

"Lousy weather report," Arnold said from Phoebe's side. "Said there wasn't a chance of rain today!"

"They said it this morning," Phoebe said, unconcerned about the light drizzle. It would be good for the flowers. Her and Arnold were in her garden again; Arnold was holding her favorite flowery yellow umbrella above both their heads and crouching in the soggy ground next to her. They had both avoided bringing up the topic of Wanda and her news, instead choosing to talk about more comfortable subjects such as the new rock exhibition in the GRANITE section of the natural history museum and joking about when Carlos and Dorothy Ann would finally admit their feelings to each other.

"Need any more help?" Arnold asked her. He had already left to fill up the watering can a few minutes ago, but then the rain had started and now, as it grew steadily harder and harder, there wasn't much use for it.

"Um... Oh, I left a bucket of bulbs near the hose by the porch. Could you go get it, please?"

"No problem." Arnold stuck the umbrella into the moist dirt and made sure it could stand on it's own while still keeping Phoebe's head dry before sloshing off towards the bucket. Meanwhile, Phoebe used her shovel to dig a few little holes into the ground for the bulbs. Her fingernails were already caked with dirt, but that had never really bothered her too much. Only when Wanda had shoved a clod of dirt down her back in the fifth grade when Phoebe had asked her to help out in her garden had the muck bothered her. Phoebe made sure never to ask Wanda for help in the garden again.

"Here we go," Arnold placed the bucket onto the grass next to Phoebe.

"Thanks Arnold," Phoebe smiled and reached into the pail to retrieve a bulb. Arnold did the same and their hands briefly touched in the bucket; Phoebe quickly withdrew hers.

"Er - no Arnold," Phoebe said smiling after she planted her own bulb and turned to see what Arnold was doing. "The roots go down, not up."

"Oh, sorry, It's been awhile since I've done this," Arnold said, fixing the direction of the bulb's roots. "I used to garden with my grandmother when she still lived with us."

"Mr. Seedplot got me into it," Phoebe said, patting the dirt she had filled into the hole. "I love all the flowers that bloom in the spring - " she suddenly paused. Arnold's fingertips had just lightly touched her own as he patted down the dirt of his own bulb. Phoebe swallowed, but did not remove her hand.

Her heart started beating quite fast when Arnold did not remove his hand from hers, but slid it over so his entire hand was covering hers. Phoebe was frozen. She saw the raindrops falling on top of Arnold's muddy hand as it protected her own from the drizzle.

Phoebe turned to her right and looked at Arnold. His eyes, from behind his glasses which were slightly fogged up, was gazing intently down at their hands. Phoebe was in such a state of shock, she couldn't move a muscle, and simply waited for Arnold to do something.

"Phoebe?"

Phoebe started, and wrenched her hand out from under Arnold's. He jumped too and fell backwards into a puddle in the grass. Phoebe looked up at her porch and saw her mother standing there with the telephone.

"Phoebe honey, phone. It's Tim."

Phoebe tried her hardest to hide her disappointment and, avoiding Arnold's gaze, hurried off onto the porch towards her mother.


	5. Chapter 5

**I've been getting pretty stuck lately with my writing, but i'm still trying to update as soon as possible. The ending of Lessons of Nature is still getting me really stuck, but i'm hoping to get it up really soon.**

**Thanks for your patience!**

* * *

"So what'd Tim want?" Arnold asked as Phoebe hung up the phone on the small table next to the couch in the living room. Phoebe plopped down on her living room sofa. 

"Just to see if I was up for a movie tonight," Phoebe answered simply.

Arnold sat down on the couch next to her and slapped his hands on his knees as he did so. "And?"

"I said I'd go..." Phoebe said. She didn't exactly sound unhappy or glum at the prospect, but Arnold couldn't help but noticed that she didn't exactly sound happy about it either. And for some reason, just the idea of this, made him feel a bit - hopeful..?!

"Phoebe," Arnold tried to clear his head and sighed. "Don't toy with his emotions." He shifted slightly on the couch and brought his left leg under him. "Just tell him now and get it over with. It's better in the long run. Trust me."

"I know, I know," Phoebe sighed and slumped her chin into her hands. "But it's not that easy you know."

Arnold gripped onto his loose blue jeans and watched Phoebe. She looked so miserable that he felt like putting an arm around her in comfort, but the last time they touched... He had had a little too much trouble removing his hand from hers... And his head had started swimming which made him rather dizzy. He had no idea why. All he knew was that he didn't feel like experiencing whatever it was again. So he kept his hands to himself this time.

He heard Phoebe exhale heavily next to him and turned. "Well I should get going... I promised my track coach I'd go running at least once a day, and I want to go before it's dark."

Arnold nodded. "I should get going too, I have a lot of homework." He stood up, so did Phoebe. Arnold gave her a parting wave and saw her smile at him just before he turned and began to head towards the front door.

He closed her front door behind himself and stepped off the cement steps leading to the door. It had started to rain and, not wanting to go back inside and ask Phoebe for an umbrella, Arnold pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and continued on his way.

Arnold stuffed his hands into his coat pocket and hurried down the street. He kept his head down underneath his jacket hood so he wouldn't get his head too wet and splashed through the puddles towards his home. His mind kept returning back to that little moment in Phoebe's garden. He had never had anything like that happen to him before when he was with Phoebe. Ever.

Although now the more he was thinking about it, the more he thought of the possibility. Phoebe was really cute. Really, really cute. The way her auburn hair still curled up at the ends by her red cheeks, her nose, her green eyes... She was - she was actually really pretty..

They were always hanging out, and how come before today Arnold hadn't noticed?! Why now? Was it what he thought it was? Why didn't he want to remove his hand? Why did he suddenly feel like -

Arnold shook his head and a few raindrops dripped from his hair onto his nose.

He hadn't been getting much sleep lately, thanks to early morning swimming practice. Maybe this was just brought on from being exhausted all the time. He didn't have to worry about this now though. Maybe after he finally got some sleep this weekend, more things would start to make sense.

"Arnold!!!"

Arnold blinked, and a raindrop dripped into his right eye. He blinked again and saw a figure sprinting to him at a high speed through the rain.

"Arnold!!!"

It was Wanda; he could see her shiny black hair jumping on her shoulders as she ran towards him. "Wanda?!" he was feeling slightly alarmed. Which usually happened when Wanda started charging towards him with her arms out, like she was going to tackle him to the ground.

"Arnold, I'm not pregnant!!!" Wanda screamed it just before she threw herself into Arnold arms, knocking him backwards slightly. He managed to stay upright though, despite the enormous force just exerted on him.

A huge wave of relief washed over Arnold when he heard the words come out of her mouth. "Wanda!" he was almost laughing now. And he pulled her in close. "That's, oh my God, that's great."

He felt Wanda laughing into his chest, and she was clinging tightly on his sweater. "I know! Now I can just put this whole mess behind me and pretend it never happened! I can't wait to tell Ralphie!"

"Wanda," Arnold swallowed, his chest feeling a little tight and he pushed himself away from Wanda. "Wanda, what do you mean just forget about it - "

"Oh Arnold," he saw Wanda roll her eyes. "I don't mean I'm going to be stupid or anything and not do it without a condom or anything, I just meant no more worries, no more - anything... bad!"

"Well... good," he was feeling awkward again. "You have no idea how worried I was when I first heard the news."

"If I had known it was a false pregnancy I wouldn't have told anyone," Wanda said. "Especially not you."

Arnold started. "W - what? Why not me?!" He kind of figured why, but he wanted her to tell him herself.

"Well, it's just that..." Wanda looked a little troubled. "Well, Phoebe was telling me you've never really gotten over... Er - nevermind - "

"Wait, wait! Phoebe told you - "

"It's okay, Arnold," Wanda said smiling. "I really did think it would work between us too."

"Right," Arnold cleared his throat, which had suddenly gone scratchy. "Um, well. I've got to go - "

"Right, me too. I'm off to tell Phoebe the good news!" Wanda said happily.

"Oh, she just left for a date with Tim actually," Arnold said, feeling slightly awkward all of a sudden.

"Oh," Wanda's smile did not fade. "I'll see if I can find Keesha or DA then, see you later Arnold!" And she tore past him and sprinted off behind him.

xxx

Dorothy Ann cupped a group of lilac scented bubbles in her hands and brought them up to her face. She didn't take bath's often: a shower was a lot faster and wasted less water. But sometimes she just needed to relax. This time it wasn't really working though. She felt as tense as ever and no matter what she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about Bridgeton and what might be going on at the very moment.

DA groaned and sunk underneath the hot water until she was fully submerged. She broke through the surface again, blond hair now soaking wet, and leaned against the cold, hard marble of her bathtub.

She could calculate complicated formula's and angles of objects far off in space at the age of eight, understood all three of Newton's laws perfectly at the age of nine, and could even hit a home run baseball if she tried. But her relationship with Carlos was like some weird enigma she couldn't crack.

She had known him for as long as she could remember. He was in the same kingergarten class as her and the two hadn't exactly hit it off. Well, the sort of did. When they weren't arguing over mundane things like pencil sharpeners and the best combination of colours for a mothers day card, they got along pretty well. Their relationship was pretty much the same now, though maybe what they argued over became a little more mature... sort of...

But Dorothy Ann really didn't mind all of their squabbles. Carlos would always challange her with his ideas. She'd be so set to defend her own theory which she could swear on her heart was right, and then he'd manage to change her mind. Which always made her blood boil of course, but it was starting to bother her less and less. Plus she was normally the one right anyway. He made her think though, like no other boy did. She argued with Ralphie a lot, but mainly to tell him off for something stupid he would be planning to do, like tying a sofa to the roof of his van and putting Wanda behind the wheel while he rode it. Carlos was smart, he challanged her with this, he was funny - yes, funny, Dorothy Ann couldn't help but laugh at even his stupidest jokes sometimes, and hot. She probably noticed the latter last. And it was also only the reason Jill was interested. It had to be; she didn't know Carlos at all otherwise.

Thinking about the two together made her sick and she submurged her head again, hoping she could rid herself of the disturbing thought quickly and worry about something else.

xxx

"Here's to another nine months of alcohol!" Wanda toasted, lifting her bottle up and then bringing it back down to her lips.

"You can't guarantee that if you can't keep your hands off Ralphie for more than two seconds," Keesha sighed shaking her head, but she looked just as happy as Wanda. Her, Wanda, Phoebe, and Dorothy Ann were all sitting in Wanda's backyard, enjoying the beer Wanda had managed to get her hands on in the past hour. Her mother was working late that night and her younger brother William was sleeping over at a friends house.

"Um, it's been more than a day since I last saw him, Franklin," Wanda pointed out. "Besides, this whole pregnancy scare has kind of opened my eyes again. I don't plan on having sex again for a loong time."

Keesha snorted. "Alright Wanda..."

"Seriously!" Wanda shouted and she slammed her half empty beer bottle on the deck table. The liquid splashed over her hand. "What, you think I'm that much of a whore?!"

Keesha didn't say anything, but smirked. Dorothy Ann and Phoebe exchanged amused glances.

"I hate you guys," Wanda said, slouching back onto her chair. She glared angrily at Phoebe, who looked like she was trying not to laugh. "So how'd your date with Tim go, Therese?"

Phoebe, who was twiddling her thumbs on the unopened cap of her beer, jumped at the question. It wasn't too difficult to see her face had gone slightly pink, even in the dim lighting of Wanda's porch lamps. She shrugged. "I dunno... I told him we should just be friends."

"Oooh," there was an intake of breath from all around the table.

"Sorry Phoebe," Keesha said, patting her friend on the hand.

"How'd he take it?" Dorothy Ann asked, sounding nervous.

"Not that bad I don't think," Phoebe said, pondering for a second. "He seemed okay about it."

"Just hope he doesn't mope for a week over you like with DA here," Wanda said, nodding at DA.

Dorothy Ann glared at her as she was unpleasantly reminded of the events of the last year.

Wanda shrugged. She was definitely in a better mood.

"So when do the boys get back anyway?" Keesha asked, shooing away a moth that had flown into the light resting next to her hand.

"Carlos said late Sunday," DA said. "I asked him just before we left."

Wanda brought her legs up onto her chair and crossed them underneath her. "You'd better get a move on you know. I heard Jill Green - "

"You heard Jill Green what?!" Dorothy Ann asked sharply.

Wanda smirked. "Nothing, I just heard she was planning to put the moves on him in Bridgeton."

"W - what?" Dorothy Ann felt her stomach disappear. "When?!"

"I dunno, a few days ago?" Wanda looked at DA sympathetically. "All I'm saying is that if nothing did happen on this trip, you need to get your act together and just kiss him."

Dorothy Ann looked at Wanda angrily. "Look, you've been harping me about that for - stop it, you don't know what you're saying at all!" she slammed her beer bottle down on the table, and because she had only taken a few sips, the beer spilled onto the table at the force exerted. Wanda, Keesha, and Phoebe all stared up at her with raised eyebrows. DA quickly stood up, looking slightly embarrassed at her sudden outburst.

"I'll see you guys later," she said, in slightly lighter tones, but it was still cold, and stormed off.

"Wow... " Wanda said slowly. "I didn't think she'd get so touchy."

Keesha frowned at her. "When you mention Carlos with another girl, of course DA's going to get touchy."

"Right, well sorry..." Wanda shook her head and drained the rest of her beer.

xxx

Five minutes later, Dorothy Ann made her way through the tiny little forest - if it could be called that - on her way home from Wanda's house. She felt ridiculous now, exploding like that all over everyone, and very embarrassed. But she couldn't help it: Wanda had confirmed all her fears in that one little sentence said so lightly.

"_I heard she was planning to put the moves on Carlos in Bridgeton."_

It hurt Dorothy Ann more than anything else that she had been so close just before he left. She should have just closed her eyes and done it, even if Jill was watching.

Dorothy Ann wiped her face with her sleeve and stepped out of the forest back onto the street.

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**Reviews are nice :)**


	6. Chapter 6

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"Hey, Ralphie," Carlos jabbed his best friend in the side. "Ralphie!"

Ralphie stirred slightly in his seat and let out a deep groan. His brown eyes flickered open and he brought a hand up to his face groggily. Him and Carlos were sitting next to each other near the end of the bus taking them home from a long day in Bridgeton. Their team had won the soccer game 1-0, which meant they were going to play the final at their own school in Walkerville. However at the moment, the two boys couldn't have looked less enthused at the prospect.

Ralphie had spent most of the trip in a daze, closest resembling a zombie, which caused their coach to pull him off the field rather early in the game. He had finally managed to fall asleep on the bus ride home, catching up from a few days of restlessness, staying up rigid in his bed in a dull stupor. Carlos had known there was nothing he could have done to help, and let Ralphie stew in his own misery, hoping that eventually he'd become a little more himself again eventually. Ralphie was like that. When his parents had split up, he hadn't said a word to anyone for a whole week, no matter how much Phoebe had tried to get him to open up.

Ralphie sat up straighter in his seat as a response to the sharp poke from Carlos and turned to his friend groggily, "What?"

Carlos pointed soundlessly out the window of the bus. Ralphie turned. They were slowing down, Walkerville highschool in plain view. A girl with pinstraight black hair flying wildly in the wind from underneath her cap was waiting next to the bus stop, holding a thick jacket tightly around her and staring up ahead at the front of the bus.

Ralphie groaned, slumped back down in his seat, and closed his eyes again.

"It'll be fine," Carlos said quietly, standing up. The bus had come to a complete stop. "No point in avoiding it anyway. Come on." He hit Ralphie on the shoulder to rouse him. Ralphie pushed Carlos' hand away before getting himself up slowly. He took a deep breath.

Carlos patted him on the shoulder before moving down the aisle himself so he could get out of the bus and retrieve his baggage waiting for him at the bottom. He felt he'd rather avoid all the Wanda/Ralphie drama at the moment.

"Carlos!" He heard Wanda shout it. Damn, he had been seen.

"H - hey Wanda. How are - "

"I'm not pregnant!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, which made Carlos wince slightly, and rushed over to him.

Carlos heard a sudden furious shuffling inside the bus and was shoved aside by Ralphie before he could even have a chance to let the news sink in.

"N - not pregnant...?" Ralphie asked, looking very dazed, while Carlos pulled himself back up from the ground where he had been knocked over. Wanda grinned and nodded her head vigorously before throwing herself in Ralphie's arms. Ralphie staggered and a grin slowly started to form on his face.

"YES!!"

xxx

"So you found out you weren't pregnant... and had sex with Ralphie after to celebrate?" Keesha shook her head disbelievingly and stuck her head inside Ralphie's fridge, looking for soda. "You're unbelievable Wanda..."

Wanda ignored her friends comment and opened her own can of soda. When Keesha continued to glare disappointedly at her she sighed and said. "What?! We used a condom this time! And I'm going on the pill too!"

Keesha shook her head again, Wanda rolled her eyes.

"I'm going back out to the pool," and she flounced off without another word.

The gang was over at Ralphie's house, taking advantage of another sunny day relaxing by his pool. As well as to celebrate the fact Wanda wasn't pregnant, and that the game in Bridgeton had gone so well. Well, most of the gang was there anyway. Tim nor Dorothy Ann had shown up yet, but that didn't really surprise Keesha.

She closed the door of the fridge and looked over the counter outside the window. Wanda had already jumped into the pool to join Ralphie, Phoebe, and Arnold. Keesha brought the soda she'd just retrieved up to her lips; where had Carlos gone?

"Hey."

Keesha jumped and choked on her drink. She spat the grape soda all over the window in front of her and she was still coughing when she turned angrily to face Carlos. "Hey.. I was just wondering where you'd got to."

"Er - sorry. Didn't mean to scare you like that..." Carlos said slowly. He reached out and pulled a paper towel off of the roll next to the sink and handed it to Keesha. She grabbed it and hastily mopped off as much of the grape juice off her dark blue bikini top as she could.

"Hey, is DA coming today?" Carlos asked as she threw away the now purple paper towel. He tried to sound as though what he'd asked was some throw away question of little importance.

Keesha shook her head and reached for the roll of paper towels sitting next to the shove. "She said she was busy. Some chemistry thing at the school I think."

"Oh, okay..." he was trying to sound casual but, in Keesha's opinion, was failing miserably.

"She's been a bit upset these past few days," Keesha said carefully. "I didn't think she'd show up anyway. She wants to talk to you though."

"T - talk to me? Why?"

Keesha shrugged. "Just wanted to know what you did this weekend. What did you do this weekend?" Keesha felt it was her duty as a friend to find out.

Carlos shrugged. "Not much, won the game, went to bed, woke up next morning and had to come home." Carlos frowned. "DA was never interested in soccer."

Keesha was tempted to say it, but stopped herself when she imagined DA's reaction. 

"Well," Keesha had been scrambling around for something to say and when she couldn't, replied, "Well, I'm going to go for a swim. Coming in?"

Carlos, who hadn't even changed into his swimming trunks, shook his head. "I think I'm just going to go home and unpack.."

Keesha nodded, and noted that Carlos was not looking at her, but staring at the roll of paper towels again, looking as though he was in deep thought. "I'll see you later then. Good luck."

Carlos broke free from his stupor. "For what?" he demanded, sounding a little shocked.

Keesha raised her eyebrows. "The game tomorrow..? What else?"

"Er - nothing. Thanks," Carlos said quickly before turning around. "See you later," he called behind his back as he walked out of the kitchen towards the front door. Keesha watched him go, feeling a strange mixture of curiosity and knowing brewing inside of her.

xxx

"I checked over your calculations for the lab last night," Gus Mackerson said, holding the notes in his hands. He was standing next to Dorothy Ann who was sitting on one of the science stools in the classroom, measuring some acid in a pipet.

"Were they alright?" Dorothy Ann asked, feeling pretty confident that she hadn't made a single mistake in them. When her life started falling off track, she buried herself so deep into her studies that it was impossible for her to be pulled out. It was a sort of distraction. And she had needed a big one from what she had been thinking for the past few days.

"Yeah, no mistakes at all!" Gus sounded very impressed. "I couldn't even figure out how to solve the last problem myself."

Dorothy Ann couldn't help but smile. She tried to act as modest as she could, but she knew she was a sucker for these sort of compliments. "Thanks.. I was just surprised to hear that you once won the Young Astronomers Award for the observatory last year. It's about the most prestigious thing they give out."

He grinned and looked down at his shoes. "It was nothing.. The contest was for chumps, anyone with half a brain could have won it. Why didn't you enter it?"

DA shrugged. "I just heard about it too late."

Gus nodded understandably. "I'm glad you were chosen to do this contest with me though." DA suddenly saw his face reddening slightly, but Gus didn't seem embarrassed. "I was actually dying for a chance to get to know you better."

"Uhh - oh?" Dorothy Ann wasn't quite sure about how she was supposed to respond so she turned back to her pipet and continued with the measurement.

"I just think you're one of the smartest girls in our class," he continued, and Dorothy Ann felt herself growing red. She avoided his gaze. "And I love how you like all the same things as me - when it comes to science of course."

"Mmm..." Dorothy Ann poured the acid into a beaker and got up to clean the buret. She was starting to feel incredibly uncomfortable and glanced at the clock, hoping she'd be able to leave soon.

xxx

Carlos didn't really know why he was walking in the direction of the school on the weekend. He knew he shouldn't. Knew because Dorothy Ann was in there at the moment working on labs for the chemistry contest with Gus. Gus...

Pretty boy.. Why Mr Runes had chosen that, that complete idiot to work alongside DA for that thing was beyond him. Carlos just didn't understand why _he_ hadn't been chosen to work on the contest with her. He was smart; smarter than Gus at least... He had an A in science didn't he?! He could have done just as well as Gus in the damn contest, better even.

Carlos kicked a rock lying on the ground and stopped walking. He was at the school and could see the window to the science classroom where Dorothy Ann and him shared a table. It wasn't much of a surprise that it quickly turned into his favourite class. He'd rather sit through five hours of science class next to her than have PE or play soccer or something.

Still not sure what exactly he was expecting himself to do when he reached the window of the science classroom, Carlos began walking across the school's grass field, hands stuffed in his pockets. Keesha hadn't told him when DA would be finished today, but he didn't think she'd mind too much if he interrupted for a bit. Keesha had said she'd wanted to talk to him after all. And so he would. Even if it meant interrupting her precious cozy time with Gus Mackerson.

Carlos had reached the window. Closing in at six foot one, he had no trouble peering into the window placed above a little natural dugout on the grass. The lights were on in the classroom, and since it was already getting dark outside, he had no trouble seeing the two people inside. They were sitting at a desk a few seats back from the window. Dorothy Ann was sitting looking at the buret in front of her and measuring acid - or it might have been base - while Gus sat next to her, pen held loosely on the paper in front of him while he talked to her.

Carlos narrowed his eyes, his fist raised in front of the window. He been about to knock, but suddenly found that he was frozen stiff with silence. He watched horrified, with bated breath, as he watched Gus ruffle his golden blond hair and talk grinning, before he started to lean in towards a shocked looking DA.

Eyes wide, Carlos breathed hard and the window in front of him fogged up, he quickly darted to the side and held his breath. His fingers were turning white as he gripped the windowsill.

Gus leaned in slowly, his mouth slightly parted. It took DA a few seconds longer than Carlos to see what exactly he was planning to do, and, just before Carlos had a chance to throw up all over the glass of the window, she jumped back and knocked the buret off the table and onto the ground.

Carlos' heart was thumping so hard it hurt and he swallowed and felt a huge wave of relief wash over him as he watched Dorothy Ann hurriedly apologize before rushing across the room, away from Gus, to get some powdered base for the acid spill. He stood where he was, trying to relax. He wasn't sure what to do next. Bursting into the classroom and punching Gus in the face seemed tempting though.

Carlos shook his head and backed away from the window. Thinking that maybe this was just a bad dream and that he should just go to bed now and everything would be alright in the morning. But he couldn't just leave her here... with him...

But then he heard Dorothy Ann say, "I think we should call it a night.. I'll just finish cleaning up and do the calculations at home tonight okay?"

"O - okay," he heard Gus' muffled response. "I'll help you - "

"No! I - I mean.. It's okay, I'll finish it myself," Dorothy Ann said quickly. "You can go.."

"Okay.. if you're sure," Gus said, looking slightly put down. "I'll - I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Like hell you will," Carlos muttered under his breath. And he stayed rooted to the spot until he was sure he saw Gus leave the room for good. He raised his fist to the glass once more, tempted to knock on it and get her attention, but in the end drew his hand back, and decided it'd be better if he talked to her tomorrow. After he'd calmed down a bit. And if he ran into Gus Mackerson on the way home, well, he could hardly be held responsible for his actions..

xxx

DA was walking faster than she normally would have. She just wanted to get home. She couldn't believe what had just happened. One minute Gus had been talking to her, and she had been listening, and everything had been fine, and then she'd turned and seen his face and his lips and how close they were getting.. She couldn't help her reaction. Why did he have to do that? Why did she have to have Gus Mackerson try to kiss her after everything else that had happened. Was this the universe telling her she had to move on because Carlos had gotten together with Jill this past weekend in Bridgeton?!

Dorothy Ann felt her stomach clench uncomfortably and started walking faster.

It was getting darker and darker and she was now walking through Walkerville park in the little trail through the trees. There weren't many people left in the park, and she couldn't see the ones that were there, even underneath the lamps that had just been lit for the night, but there was no mistaking that voice.

"Well aren't you guys nosy.."

The tone was good natured though, and giggly, as if Jill Green had something she was dying to tell them, and was only trying to make her friends die of curiosity first. Dorothy Ann felt her eyes opened wide with fear, thinking she might just die of curiosity as well.

"So tell us already! Did you kiss?!"

"Yeah, Jill, stop holding out on us! We're dying here!"

Dorothy Ann tripped over a loose rock in the path and hit the ground hard. She didn't cry out in pain, for fear that she'd be heard by the three girls sitting on the bench on the other side of the trees. Lip bleeding, she lifted herself off the ground slowly, so she'd make as little noise as possible, and strained her ears.

She heard Jill giggle and her stomach tightened.

No... please no... please...

Her heart felt like it was going to jump up her throat and she finally heard Jill's response. "I don't kiss and tell girls..." Jill said teasingly. "But - um - no."

Yes...

"Awrn! Then why'd you get us all excited like this?!" one of her friends - it sounded like Clarissa again - demanded angrily. DA closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer of relief.

"Well we came close at the aftermath party in the hotel, but he left early with Ralphie Tenelli for bed before I had the chance," Jill said, but she didn't sound disappointed. "What I was thinking was: if we win the game tomorrow, don't you think that'd be the best atmosphere for the first kiss between us?"

The girls giggled. Dorothy Ann leaned closer to the blueberry bush next to her and tried to make sure she heard every word that came next.

"Think about it. We win, he's already on top of the word. Then I plant the big one on him in front of everyone," Jill sounded rather proud of her plan and had a very dreamy sound to her voice. Dorothy Ann resisted the urge to jump out of the bush and strangle her fellow classmate. She quickly stood up, brushed the dirt off her skirt, and continued walking. She'd heard enough.

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**Reviews make me happy :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Probably the penultimate chapter and I'm hoping I can get the last one out soon. **

**Enjoy:)**

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Phoebe couldn't believe it. She was going to the school's soccer game tonight. Getting ready to be picked up by none other than Arnold Perlstein. Her stomach jumped excitedly as she remembered and she ran her comb through her auburn hair as she hummed quietly to herself. 

Now this wasn't exactly unusual. Arnold picked her up for lots of things, along with Carlos, Tim, and Ralphie. For pizza, movies, concerts... But this time it felt different.

Phoebe always hated getting her hopes up for something, only to have them crash down when they weren't fulfilled. But most of the time she just couldn't help herself. It was the way Arnold had told her he could pick her up and drive her to the game that made her so excited. Well no, he hadn't offered to take her to the game, he'd asked if she could. Asked her as if he were asking her on a date.

The scene had already whirred through her mind over a dozen times since yesterday. It had happened on the shore of Ralphie's pool. Her and Arnold had been sitting on the edge of the cement by the pool, dipping their feet in the water. They had both still been in their bathing suits, Phoebe in her yellow bikini, and Arnold in his orange swimming trunks. Phoebe had been, as usual whenever Arnold was topless, trying to avoid staring at him, as well as Wanda and Ralphie who were all over each other in the pool. She had started feeling a bit cold and had her towel wrapped around her shoulders, but she did not move from Arnold's side and kept her feet in the pool.

It had started getting dark, and Ralphie had lit an oil tiki lamp next to the two of them. Phoebe remembered how beautiful the whole scene had looked. The fireflies that would occasionally fly past her face, reflecting in the gently rippling waters of the pool. She had been looking into the flames of the lamp, feeling the heat of it warm her up slightly. One minute feeling completely relaxed and happy and the next, she had felt something on her shoulder.

She had jumped and turned to face Arnold, who had dropped his hand after he saw he had gotten her attention.

"Are you going to the game tomorrow?" he asked quietly, first his blue eyes were looking right into her green ones, and then she saw them flicker over to the pool, where Tim had just dived and disturbed the water around their feet.

"Yes," she'd said nodding. "Yes, I was thinking about it. And I didn't have anything else planned so - "

"Do you think - do you think it'd be okay.. If I picked you up for it?" he'd asked very quickly, and Phoebe could have sworn she'd heard a bit of nervousness in his voice. It had gone a bit scratchy. "And - and, the guys were thinking of going out for pizza afterwards and - do you, do you think you'd like to come with me?"

Phoebe had felt her eyes grow wide at this point, but she forced herself to stay calm. "Yes! Yes, I'd love to go Arnold."

And then he had smiled and looked immediately less nervous and said, "Great! I'll see you at six then tomorrow."

Phoebe stole a glance at her alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. It was currently five to six. She smiled and felt her heart thump faster than usual, wondering if she had enough time to maybe put on a little make up as well. Arnold was always very punctual.

xxx

"Do you think we're being stupid?"

Ralphie frowned at Wanda as if she was being crazy at just suggesting the thought. The two of them were walking down the sidewalk towards the school for the game, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, her arm stretched around his waist.

"Wanda, I don't think anything I've ever done is stupid."

Wanda snorted. "Alright, _weatherman_. But seriously, I'm starting to think Keesha's right about this whole sex thing - "

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait - " Ralphie paused and even stopped walking. "You - you're not going to listen to her are you. Because I think - " he gave a little humorless laugh. "I think, you know, I know we've had the scare and everything, but as long as we - "

"Just for a week," said Wanda, rubbing his hand firmly with her own. "I'm not... I'm not really feeling up to it right now anyway.. So I'm uninviting you to my house tonight."

"What?!" Ralphie choked. "You can't univite me! Wanda... Your parents aren't even home - " Ralphie was practically begging now and Wanda pulled away from him and the arm held around her shoulders.

"Just for a week Ralphie!" Wanda said. "I don't want Keesha to think she's right. You're acting like I'm breaking up with you or something! I'm pretty sure Keesha thinks that this relationship is nothing but sex and you're making me think she _is_ right!"

"I - " Ralphie was speechless. "Wanda... Come on.."

"So you're not denying it!" Wanda's voice was starting to rise. "See?! Everyone thinks I'm not capable of having a relationship that's actually not about sex! And, well I guess I'm not! Because the one guy I actually think I care about more than that, the one guy I've stuck around with because I think that maybe there's something deeper there, freaks out because I propose a 'no sex week'!" Wanda threw her hands up in the air in disgust. "God, Ralphie!" And she turned from him angrily and started storming off in the direction of the school, towards the game.

Ralphie stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had just happened. His throat had suddenly gone very dry, and he watched her rush off furiously, her long black hair bouncing off her back as she left him.

"Wanda.." he tried to shout it out, but his throat was too tight. "Wanda.." she had already turned the first corner and had disappeared behind someone's hedge. Ralphie wanted to run after her, wanted to tell her that it was not true, that he _did_ think there was something more to their relationship, not just sex, but he found his legs had turned into jelly. And simply stood there in the cool air, his eyes not leaving the spot where Wanda had disappeared.

xxx

Dorothy Ann shifted nervously in her seat. Her, Phoebe, Arnold, Keesha, and Tim were sitting on the topmost bench of the bleachers. She had been sitting there for the past fifteen minutes, feeling sicker and sicker and the minutes ticked by to the start of the game. None of her other friends seemed to be bothered by anything. Keesha and Tim, both of whom had already purchased popcorn from a stand set up below by the yearbook team, were goofing around good-naturedly, throwing their popcorn into each other's mouths and apologizing to anyone they hit if they missed.

Their laughs and shouts, and the occasional piece of popped, buttered popcorn bouncing on her head didn't bother her nearly as much as Phoebe and Arnold, who were sitting on the opposite side of her.

She had been wondering if Phoebe's crush would ever come to anything for years, had helped her try to get Arnold to noticed her that way whenever Phoebe asked, and of course Dorothy Ann was surprised pleasantly when she had seen the two of them arrive on the field holding hands. But they were also reminding her of what Jill was planning to do tonight if the game went well, and probably even if the game didn't go well.

Numbly, she heard Phoebe giggle next to her and listened to Arnold saying, "You've got a piece of popcorn in your hair Phoebe.." and saw him reach out and pick it out in the corner of her eye.

"Oh, sorry DA!" she heard Tim say for the fourteenth that night as she felt another piece of popcorn land on her head. It bounced off onto her lap. She brushed it off.

"Hey, anyone know where Wanda and Ralphie are?" Keesha asked.

"Ralphie's playing in the game, isn't he," said Tim, reaching into his half empty bucket for more popcorn.

Dorothy Ann saw Arnold shake his head. "No, the coach kicked him off for this game because of how badly he played in Bridgeton."

"You can't really blame him can you," Keesha said. "Oh well, at least we can cheer Carlos on," and she turned to DA. "Did you manage to run into him yesterday?"

Dorothy Ann shook her head without looking at Keesha, wishing more than anything that she would just turn around again go back to throwing popcorn at tim.

Keesha frowned. "Are you alright DA?" Dorothy nodded her head quickly.

"Fine," she tried to assure, but as she spoke, her eyes wandered onto the green field, lit up by the lights from around the bleachers and rested upon the scantily clad girls on the side opposite. They were jumping and dancing around too fast for Dorothy Ann to make any of them out as Jill Green, but she didn't want to look at them any longer than she had to anyway. She turned back to Keesha and assured her again that everything was fine and that she just wanted to leave and get a hot dog from a stand below.

She could tell Keesha wanted to protest when she stood up, but didn't say anything. Dorothy Ann hurried down the of the bleachers before she could and fought her way through the crowds so that she could get to the school. She had already seen a few of the soccer players make their way out of the changing room and run onto the field encouraging the loud screams from Walkerville High's stands, and the boos of the opposing team from a nearby school somewhere from Seattle. Dorothy Ann hadn't seen Carlos exit the change room from the outside door and could only assume that he was still in there.

What exactly she was planning to do when she saw him she did not know. But she at least wanted to see him one last time before the game started. It had been three days since they'd last spoken, and it was killing her inside. It was crazy how short it took for her to already miss the sound of his voice.

Dorothy Ann pushed the heavy doors of the school open and hurried inside. The temperature from the cool night air outside, to inside the stuffy hallway was more or less the same, but Dorothy Ann removed her sweather anyway, feeling uncomfortably hot, and stuffed it into her bag. Dorothy Ann hurried along down the hallway, her footsteps echoing in the din, and she turned a left and moved down the stairs towards the boys locker room. Wondering whether or not he had already made his way onto the field when she had averted her eyes.

Before she knew it, Dorothy Ann had reached the door of the boy's changeroom. She stood in front of it for a few minutes, thinking that maybe she should just forget it and walk back to the bleachers. But something was stopping her. It wouldn't be that hard to just go in and wish him good luck... Or even wish him good luck and kiss him on the cheek? It seemed rather easy, thinking about it now in face...

Dorothy Ann took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The room was very dark; there was only a single white light hanging from the cracked and dirty ceiling. And Dorothy Ann's eyes blinked hard as they adjusted from the previously brightly lit hallway she had just vacated.

As she had been silently hoping, the room was empty save for one person hunched in the corner. Dorothy Ann felt slightly shocked at her one bit of good luck this past week. Though she could not see the figures face, there was no mistaking that dark, shaggy hair and the number '17' on the back of the soccer jersey.

She cleared her throat. "Carlos?"

The figure flinched slightly at the sound breaking the previous silence; actually Dorothy Ann was a little surprised herself that he hadn't heard her enter in the first place; it wasn't as though she had been particularly careful about being quiet. She saw Carlos now turn around sharply to see who had addressed him.

He looked slightly surprised to see her standing there by the doorway. Actually, make that very surprised; she had definitely managed to catch him off guard. A good sign?

"DA! What are you doing here! This is the boys locker room!"

Rolling her eyes at the fact he had said something so ridiculous and trite when her mind was whirring with such virosity that she actually felt dizzy at what she was thinking of doing next. The reason she had come here. Dorothy Ann took a few steps away from the doorway and towards Carlos, wondering if she could use his surprise to her advantage.

But his initial surprise didn't last very long, and Carlos quickly managed to regain his composure and apathetic look. He turned away from her, back to the shoelaces he had been tying..

"I know perfectly well this is the boys locker room," she said, fiddling nervously with the strap of her bookbag. "I wanted to talk to you."

Carlos suddenly turned back towards her, shoes tied, this time looking very disgruntled. "Wanted to talk to me, huh?" And his tone of voice sounded just as bothered as he now looked.

Dorothy Ann, taken aback and feeling quite bewildered, asked, "Carlos, what - "

"Don't you have another chemistry tutorial with Gus tonight? Why are you even at the game?! Did you to lovebirds have a row or something?" he demanded.

Dorothy Ann blinked, feeling nothing short of being utterly dumbfounded. "W - what?! Carlos, what are you talking about - "

"Yeah like you don't know," Carlos turned away from her and bent back down to his shoelaces, despite the fact they were already tied.

Dorothy Ann had opened her mouth to retort, but could not think of a single thing to say. She simply stood there staring at the back of his head while her thoughts furiously tried to make sense of what exactly he was saying.

And then a horrible thought suddenly entered DA's mind. A thought that made her sick just thinking about it. But no.. he couldn't have... She frowned and turned back to Carlos, who was straightening up again, and sat down on one of the benches.

"Did you see us yesterday?!" she demanded, rage suddenly bubbling up faster than she could control it.

"Hey! I just went over there to see you!" Carlos shouted back. "I didn't know I was going to be interrupting some of your precious time with Gus - !"

"What?!" Dorothy Ann jumped right back up from the bench. "Carlos you know perfectly well that we were just - "

" - Studying for the contest," Carlos snorted. "Yeah, right. That's not what it looked like to me - "

"Were you spying on me?!" Dorothy Ann demanded. She was livid and could actually feel herself shaking.

"No! DA I'd never - I was just going to see you! I didn't know Gus would be there trying to - "

"Trying to what?!" Dorothy Ann demanded acidly. And though she knew it had just been an accident, knew he hadn't meant to accidently caught Gus trying to kiss her, but she couldn't help but feel the anger and frustration that had been building up all week finally coming out. "What does it matter to you anyway, what I do with Gus in my spare time - "

"It's just when you promise me beforehand that'd you'd come to the game on Friday, that'd you'd actually show up, instead of frenching Gus - "

"We had to finish the _lab_ Carlos!" Dorothy Ann shouted. "I wanted to leave early and go to the game. I wanted to, really! And so what you saw Gus trying to kiss me! It's not like he did and - "

"Yeah," Carlos spat. "So he didn't kiss you then. Doesn't mean that the two of you haven't - "

"_Don't_ say it Carlos!" Dorothy Ann said venomously. "What about Jill, huh?! It's not okay for me to spend time working on a science contest with Gus, but it's okay for you to go out - go out partying with Jill Green in Bridgeton and - and - " she felt her voice catch in her throat and all of a sudden grow tight.

"Jill?" The tone of Carlos' voice immediately changed. He looked very confused for a moment, a look not normally found on his face. "Jill Green?"

"Yeah, her," Dorothy Ann regained some of her composure. "Don't tell me she hasn't tried anything on you and - "

"Nothing's ever happened between me and Jill..." Carlos said, his voice very quiet now. He was frowning slightly at Dorothy Ann and when she didn't reply he added. "Why would it matter to you anyway?"

"I - " DA stopped. She had to be very careful with what to say next. "I - well what about me and Gus?! It's none of your business what I do with him and - "

"Did you ever kiss him?" Carlos asked sharply, standing up from the bench very suddenly.

"No!" Dorothy Ann wanted to make sure she could make it as clear as possible, but Carlos still looked skeptical. "And even if I did, it's none of your business - "

"Ramone!"

They both jumped as the door of the locker room burst open. Dorothy Ann almost gasped when she saw the livid looking face Coach Racket poke his head through the locker room door. Looking so fierce at the moment that he could have given Carlos and Dorothy Ann a run for their money.

"Ramone!" he shouted again. "What are you doing in here this late?!!" Red faced, his moustache flaring, his angry expression did not hide the nerves in the man's voice. "Get out there, the game's about to start!" And he left as quickly as he had arrived, with only a quick nod at Carlos that told him to hurry up, and an accusing glare at DA.

"See you later, DA," Carlos said without looking at her, and he walked quickly down the little aisle of benches away from her and Dorothy Ann felt the anger that had been engulfing her only seconds previously, dissolve in an instant as she watched him leave.

He turned towards the door that lead to the soccer field. The field where Jill was currently screaming and hooting with every other idiot from the cheer squad. The field where, if the game was successful, the celebrations involving beer and loud, obnoxious music would be required to take place. The field where she'd kiss him if they did. Kiss him and take him away from DA forever.

DA was only numbly aware of the tears starting to form at the edges of her eyes, and she swallowed again, trying to rid of the bile that came up the back of her throat.

"Wait!" she called after him, just as his hand reached the door, and she hurried over to him. "I just wanted to - " the words caught in her throat, but what she really wanted to do couldn't be expressed with any words. She tried to calm her nerves and just do it. But she couldn't. He didn't look as angry as before, but she couldn't now when this new tension had formed between them.

"Good luck," she said quickly, looking away from him and down at her shoes. "I just wanted to come and say good luck."

"Ramone!"

She couldn't look up from her shoes to see Carlos. Could only hear him exiting the locker room, towards the field and Jill. She had failed. She had been so determined, she had told herself over and over to just do it, and when the opportunity arose, she didn't.

Dorothy Ann flopped down on one of the benches miserably and buried her face in her hands. For the next few minutes, the soft sound of her sobs echoed loudly in the room.

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**Leave a review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Apologies for the long wait... I kind of lost my muse... To tell you the truth I lost all inspiration or desire to continue this story, which is why this last chapter probably seems choppy or maybe repetative.. but instead of taking it off the site (since there was only really one chapter left) I struggled to complete it. I hope you all haven't lost interest.**

**So, finally, I present to you, chapter 8! **

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Ralphie thumbed mindlessly on the cap of his Pepsi that he had just purchased at a nearby stand, staring at the dark brown liquid inside. He hadn't really wanted it; he had just bought it for the sake of doing something. He was pretty caught up in what he was doing with it though, just simply staring at it, the little bubbles sparkling in the bright light from the field lamps like little diamonds. It proved as quite a good distraction: he hadn't even noticed his soccer coach screaming at him to get off the bench when it was obvious he wasn't playing in this particular game. There was no way that he could have been so immersed however, that he couldn't fail to notice the gruff dark figure marching towards him. 

"Woah... What happened to you?!" Ralphie asked, frowning at his best friend who had just stormed down the grass field and thrown himself on the bench that was also supporting the rest of the soccer team.

"Nothing," Carlos answered darkly. "What about you, you don't look very happy."

"Nothing," Ralphie said quickly. The two sat in an awkward silence for a few moments. Ralphie pushed the plastic of his Pepsi in and out; the crackling sound it made oddly satisfying.

"Why isn't Wanda with you?" Carlos asked suddenly.

Ralphie's mouth dropped open angrily. "Geeze Carlos, just because we're dating doesn't mean we have to be with each other every - "

"She's holding out on you?"

Ralphie choked on his own spit. "H - how'd you - "

"She told me she was planning to. Wondering if I knew how you'd take it."

"And what'd you say?!" Ralphie demanded.

"I don't know," Carlos answered, unscrewing the lid of his water bottle. "I have no idea..."

Ralphie didn't reply and sat on the bench a few minutes longer, looking at his fingers. Carlos was fidgeting slightly with the water bottle in his hands. Ralphie knew Carlos well enough to know that if his nerves were at an extreme before the games, he wouldn't be moving at all, resembling something closest to a statue. It looked like something else was bothering him this time.

He cleared his throat, completely at a loss of what to say next, so he simply wished Carlos a quick 'good luck' and went off to meet the others in the stands.

Only he didn't really want to meet any of them. They'd all be wondering and asking why Wanda wasn't with him. It was already known that the two of them would be arriving together. Or should have arrived together. He didn't want to have to go through any explanations. If he even had to give any explanations; Ralphie wondered how many other people aside from Carlos she had asked. Probably all of the girls. Maybe even Tim..

Ralphie stuffed his hands into his pockets angrily and kicked a loose rock on the ground. He was walking away from the grass field he realised. And was already making his way towards the center of the gravel field on the other side of the school. He stopped.

Ralphie bit his lip and turned back in the direction of the grass field. Wanda hadn't run in the direction of her house; she had run in the direction of the school. Was she still here there? Should he just suck it up and go talk to her? Ralphie was strongly tempted to go back and look for her, but his feet were also having trouble moving off the ground. He knew when he saw her he'd be at a loss of what to say, and it would just be awkward as hell. He hated it when he was in those situations. He'd miraculously managed to avoid them with Wanda since they started dating.

Ralphie swallowed and took one step towards the school. Then another, and another, and then he stopped again. The back doors of the school had just slammed shut; the noise made him jump. Ralphie turned his attention away from the field for a moment and saw the silhouette of Dorothy Ann running down the steps and onto the gravel field.

He frowned for a second; why was she leaving right before the game? "Hey! DA!" he shouted from halfway across the field. "DA!"

He saw her stop and turn. He broke into a jog so that he could catch up to her. "W - Why are you leaving so soon, the game's about to start," he panted as he caught up to her. He couldn't see her face properly, what with it already being eight o'clock and most of the school's lights illuminating the grass field on the other side, but could still tell she had been crying and felt startled.

"Er... What's up?" he asked, not sure what he was supposed to do next and mentally kicking himself for not just running back towards the grass field immediately.

"I'm going home," Dorothy Ann said, hiding her face behind her blond hair. Her voice sounded very stuffy. "I'm not feeling well." And she turned around and began to hurry off again.

Ralphie felt he should have probably followed her and tried to figure out what was wrong and comfort her and all that junk, but he really couldn't handle upset girls. Going back and straightening things up with Wanda however, was just something he'd have to do if he ever wanted to be happy with his life again.

He turned away from the retreating back of DA, and started running back towards the grass field.

xxx

Keesha chewed her now stale popcorn slowly; her eyes were on the game, but she wasn't really paying much attention to it. More of it was being given to the girl on her left who had shoved her way between her and Tim just before the start of the game. Arnold had asked Wanda tentatively, what was wrong. To which she had replied angrily, 'nothing!' before folding her arms, crossing her legs, and staring angrily out onto the soccer field. Everyone, including Keesha, had taken it as a sign that they weren't supposed to talk to her anymore if they didn't want any popcorn shoved up their nose.

Dully, she guessed that the problem probably lay with a dark haired Italian, but there was no way she would be asking Wanda about it anytime soon. She watched the game instead, wondering why she couldn't find Carlos on the field. He had been there earlier, she was sure of it..

xxx

DA was sitting in her room on her bed, all alone in the house, clutching a pillow tightly and holding it close to her chest as she rested her chin against the fabric. A book lay down in front of her as she sat cross legged; "Volcanoes and Earthquakes" was what it was called, and it was open to no page worth any particular interest to her. At least nothing written in ink. Inside it lay an old picture, though it had been preserved rather well, despite the slight yellow tinge on the corners.

Dorothy Ann closed her eyes as they filled with more tears. The picture had been taken when she had been in the third grade, at Ralphie's tenth's birthday. She could remember the day clearer than most, the picture obviously helping her recall the memory. She was standing in between her two best friends, Ralphie, who had a smudge of chocolate cake on one chubby cheek, and Carlos, who was the only one wearing one of those cone shaped birthday hats. The hat, though distracting as it was a violent shade of hot pink, was not what held her attention so intently. Carlos had his arm around her in the picture and she had her arm around his in turn, both were grinning widely at the camera. Carlos was holding two fingers above her head.

She stayed there, staring at the picture and whimpering into the fabric for several moments and felt like she could have done so until the end of time, wishing nothing more than to go back in time to when the picture was taken, where she didn't have to worry about the whole mess of boyfriends and girlfriends. Of crushes and not being able to take her mind off the boy that drove her crazy. She felt as though she could have just hid under the comforter until everything righted itself again, if only there had not been an interruption.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump on the her door. The reaction was almost instantaneous: Dorothy Ann jumped and felt her heart stop and her breath go shallow. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else in the house! Her parents had left for a movie and her sister was out with some friends. DA crumpled the tissue she had been holding in one fist and sat up straight, hardly daring to breath, staring at the white door. Whoever it was knocked again. She hadn't just imagined it. Her last hope faded away and Dorothy Ann just managed not to shout.

She dove under her covers, making as little noise as possible and prayed whoever it was would just leave. She even whimpered the word's 'please leave, please please...' softly and she closed her eyes shut and wished the nightmare to end.

The door thumped a third time. Dorothy Ann stifled a moan.

"DA?"

If her heart had been beating loudly before, it was nothing to how it was now. Dorothy Ann's eyes snapped open at the sound. The sound she could never mistake for anything else; the one she heard every night in her sleep, before she went to bed... The voice that always made her stomach jump into her throat whenever she heard it. Made her heart lift ever so slightly; one that she knew she couldn't live without..

A fourth knock.

"Dorothy Ann are you there?"

What was he doing here?!

"DA? I know you're in there, come on. Open up."

Dorothy Ann didn't answer, her heart in her throat, and her blanket wrapped tightly around her head as though it were a balaclava.

"DA, it's me - "

Well of course it was him! _Go away!_ She wanted to shout the words out. But then he'd know for sure that she was in there. _Why_ did she have to leave that blasted door unlocked downstairs?! Actually, now that she thought about it, she'd probably left it wide open in her distress when she came tearing into the house in the first place.

"DA... Please open up. I need to talk to you."

Dully, Dorothy Ann wondered what Carlos would think when he saw her, hidden underneath her blanket, pink eyes resembling the fabric, tears streaming down her face.

"Okay DA, fine, I'm opening it myself."

Dorothy Ann collapsed back onto her stomach and pulled the covers over her head. Maybe he wouldn't notice she was there.

"Three... two... "

Dorothy Ann did not move an inch, simply waiting...

"One - Okay, I'm coming in!"

She heard the doorknob turn and male footsteps enter. The steps stopped for a second, then continued towards her. As soon as they stopped again, Dorothy Ann felt her mattress sink a few inches as someone sat down next to her.

He knew she was there, it was too late; Dorothy Ann threw the comforter off of her. There was only one thing she wanted to say to him. One thing she need to make clear. And then, and only then, could she kick him back out of the house.

"I have _not_," she suddenly felt the rage bubbling up again, and she looked him straight into the eyes with her bloodshot ones, not caring if he noticed anymore, "kissed Gus. I never kissed him, and I never will." She glared at him, as if daring him to contradict her.

It was difficult to tell what Carlos was thinking, with the look of apathy he was giving her right now. He seemed to almost be looking past her. Dorothy Ann didn't care, she couldn't remember a time she felt angrier at him, couldn't remember feeling so much rage for something that seemed like it should have been so small and pointless. Couldn't remember ever being this close to screaming her guts out at him and demanding he leave her room this instant.

And then it happened before she had any idea what was going on. Before she was given any chance to react properly and before she could say what was really on her mind, she felt his lips crash into hers with such ferocity that her head was actually forced to move back slightly.

It wasn't how she expected it to be, nor how she had ever dreamed it to be, but she felt all the previous unhappiness and misery wash away from her with this single gesture. She let him linger, and she let her hand rise up to his face and cupped the side of his cheek. It was nothing like she had imagined it; it was better, but she had to make it stop. She had to know.

And so she pulled back and quickly asked before he could sweep her off her senses again, "Who - who won the game?"

"I dunno," said Carlos hoarsely, gasping for breath. "I left before the second half."

She eyed him carefully for a moment and she saw the look of desperation in his eyes.

"Dorothy Ann, the day I kiss Jill Green is the day I want you to kill me!" he said fiercely. "How could you even think - DA - "

"You left the soccer game - the final soccer game of the year - for me?" Dorothy Ann asked incredulously. The whole idea of it seemed almost too absurd.

"Couldn't concentrate." Carlos grinned, "Even you, who doesn't know anything about soccer, could tell I was playing horribly."

"I know more than you give me credit for!" DA insisted, but she couldn't help but smile. He continued to smile back at her and the two of them didn't move for a few seconds.

And when Carlos didn't initiate anything, Dorothy Ann finally took matters into her own hands, leaning forwards and kissing him in return. Now that it was done, and he was responding back so enthusiastically, she couldn't believe she would have thought this to have been so easy. But the fact that they had both lost so much time being stupid didn't bother Dorothy Ann, because she knew that this would not be the last kiss she'd be getting from him, and somehow knew that the time they had lost in the past would not be rued because she knew they had more than enough time ahead of them already.

xxx

Wanda. She was walking side by side with Tim, laughing at something he had just said. Arnold and Phoebe were walking steady in front of them, hand in hand. They had all planned to meet at the local pizza parlor after the game, and that's exactly where they were heading, exactly as promised.

Ralphie swallowed, and gripped the two little slips of paper tightly in his fist. He wanted to catch her and pull her away from the others before she had a chance to go inside. He quickened his pace, and his sneakers slid slightly on the damp grass and he hurried down a little knoll.

Too fast. He slipped and lost his footing and he slid down the rest of the hill. Ralphie heard the unmistakable sound of laughter in his ears and he jumped back onto his feet, his ears burning.

"Wanda," was all he managed to croak. He saw her look slightly surprised, and then look angry. She glared at him for a moment, before turning her attention back towards Tim.

"Wanda!" Ralphie shouted again and rushed across the street to meet her. He gave Tim a look that told him he wanted nothing more than to be alone with her, and Tim nodded and walked into the pizza parlor behind Phoebe and Arnold. Wanda crossed her arms and looked up at him through narrowed eyes.

"What?" she demanded in a low voice.

Ralphie swallowed. His hands fumbled for his pockets and he held out one balled fist, opening it slowly. He took a deep breath.

"I'm not just sticking around for the sex," he said firmly, looking her determinedly in the face. But she was no longer looking at him; her attention, as he had known it would, had strayed to the two little slips of paper that had been clutched in his fist. He saw her dark brown eyes widen and her expression change suddenly and he knew she had believed him.

"Ralphie," she whispered, almost speechless. She looked up at him, as if hardly daring to believe it. "Two tickets to Petrouska?!"

Ralphie nodded, and he suddenly broke out in a smile, encouraged by Wanda's own. Though she wasn't just smiling anymore. Her mouth had widened into the biggest grin she could have managed and she practically shouted with delight. Without further hesitation, she grabbed the tickets from his palm and threw her arms around him, burying her head into his chest. Ralphie returned the hug, and held her tightly. Words he desperately wanted to say were at the tip of his tongue, all it would take would be one last little bit of courage. But he didn't, it felt as though he didn't need to right now, so he stayed silent, and held the girl he loved as close as he could.

xxx

The pepperoni pizza was placed in the centre of the table that could comfortably seat eight, and promptly disappeared all but three seconds later. Keesha had only managed to grab one slice before the rest was hoarded by her ravenous friends. She frowned sadly at the one piece on her plate before turning to Ralphie.

"Ralphie! Don't hog it all!" she scolded, swatting him on the arm lightly. Ralphie had managed to place four pieces on his plate already, and one was already stuffed inside his mouth. Keesha grimiced with disguest.

"Yeah Ralphie," Wanda smiled and took one piece off of his plate before stuffing it in her mouth. Keesha felt her slight irritaion disappear as she watched the pair of them. Ralphie had picked up a bread stick was was now feeding it to Wanda. Earlier, the sight would have made Keesha vomit, but she hadn't liked what happened to Wanda after whatever spat she had had previous.

"Glad to see you two have made up," Keesha said happily. "And..." she shook her head, smiling, at the pair sitting across from her, holding hands underneath the table and waiting for the vegetarian pizza to arrive. "Congratulations you guys," she grinned.

Phoebe smiled back. Tim, who was sitting between the two best friends, rolled his eyes. "Wanda and Ralphie back together, Phoebe's now dating Arnold.. What's next - Carlos and - and - "

Alarmed at the expression that had suddenly appeared on Tim's face, Keesha whirled around in her seat so that she could see what he had.

The door of the pizza parlor opened and the little bell tied atop it jingled lightly. Tim's eyes widened and the pizza slice he had been holding drooped slightly.

But Keesha didn't find the sight nearly as alarming or surprising as Tim no doubt had. "Finally," was all Keesha muttered under her breath as the new pair joined the six at the table. Tim heaved a sigh next to her.

"Well, that settles it Keesha. You, me, tomorrow. Should I pick you up at seven or eight?"

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**Petrouska is a ballet, just incase anyone's** **unclear. And yay! It's finished:p Hope you all enjoyed the story. I have tons more plot bunnies floating around and I hope that maybe one will actually make it to this site soon!**


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